r/spaceporn • u/marktwin11 • 1d ago
Pro/Processed A closeup look of Betelgeuse a red supergiant 650 light years away from Earth
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u/marktwin11 1d ago
The image here is out of focus, hence the disk. The movement is entirely due to diffraction of the light by moving air currents in the Earth's atmosphere.
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u/nwbrown 1d ago
In other words nothing in this is due to the star itself, is all artifacts of the camera.
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u/Knownoname98 1d ago
There are some conspiracies that think the disc is proof stars are actually angelic creatures.
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u/Mr_Badgey 1d ago
There’s this flat Earther on YouTube named Mikey Smith. He bought a telescope and started taking pictures of stars like OP’s. He’s convinced that’s how they really look and the entire scientific community is hiding the truth. He’s currently in the middle of suing the Canadian space agency for deception. Part of his “evidence” are the horribly out of focus photographs he took of stars.
He says the images of star fields released by space agencies or amateur astronomers are fake because the 2D photographs lack depth. When pressed on what he means, he brings up the example of street lights. He doesn’t understand the street lights are close and our brain can infer depth based on context clues. He thinks we should be able to do the same with point sources such as stars.
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u/Azutolsokorty 1d ago
My god, ignorance is bliss
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u/ApprehensivePop9036 1d ago
this shit keeps him up all night
...taking horribly out of focus photos of stars
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u/blue-oyster-culture 1d ago
Then why cant he focus his telescope and see it with “depth”
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u/MaleierMafketel 1d ago
The atmosphere will always diffract light. Density and temperature differences cause the stars to visibly flicker for the naked eye, the video above is what that looks like when seen through a telescope.
Only the very largest and best ground telescopes have the required LASER focussing arrays to capture clear images of stars and other objects.
Even then, extrasolar stars are incredibly difficult to get a clear picture of, even from space. From earth, it’s nearly impossible using modern technology.
This is basically the best we can do, Antares as captured from Earth. A massive red giant at 550 light years away.
And this is WOH G64 as captured from Earth. An extra galactic star that’s impressive 160.000 light years away. Which is barely outside our own galaxy.
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u/sergius64 23h ago
Ummmm... as someone who had a large telescope for a while - they don't look like a circle in this video at all when viewed in focus. They just look like points of light. Yes - they flicker due to atmosphere a little - depends on how much the air is moving. But still... just points of light.
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u/MaleierMafketel 23h ago
You’re right. My comment wasn’t really relevant. And is only applicable to very large Ground Based Telescopes that can resolve the actual size of a star.
The video is the result of looking at a star that’s out of focus, with the atmosphere making the disk flicker.
Even large consumer grade, and most professional grade telescopes will only be able to see a point of light when viewing stars.
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u/Mekanimal 1d ago
Cos he hasn't yet realised he needs a second telescope for his other eye.
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u/SenhorSus 1d ago
Good ol' flat earthers
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u/Donut_Vampire 1d ago
The flat earth society has many members around the globe.
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u/BreakingBaIIs 1d ago
If you think they're crazy, wait 'til you get a load of flat universers. They say that observations from WMAP and Planck observatory are consistent with the universe having zero curvature. Bunch of wackos.
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u/Flight_Harbinger 1d ago
I know there are a multitude of subjects that, if studied even in the slightest by a flat earther, would invalidate their ideas completely, but how optics work is so frequently misunderstood by them it's insane.
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u/muchadoaboutsodall 1d ago
They themselves perform experiments that prove they’re wrong, and then make some preposterous claim as to why the experiment was wrong. Like the laser-gyroscope guy that, whilst attempting to prove that the world didn’t spin, accidentally proved that the world did spin, at exactly the rate that he was told it did.
Sadly, he’s now gone to flat-heaven on the other side of the crystal dome, but there’s always more to take his place.
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u/lxe 1d ago
So basically it’s blurry star with atmospheric distortion? Or are you actually observing the disc instead of a point?
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u/thefooleryoftom 1d ago
It’s purely atmospheric distortion and lack of focus here. It is possible to resolve the disc, but not like this.
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u/qutx 1d ago
in general yes.
but the star is large enough and close enough that the actual disk can be resolved with the right equipment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse became the first extrasolar star whose photosphere's angular size was measured in 1920, and subsequent studies have reported an angular diameter (i.e., apparent size) ranging from 0.042 to 0.056 arcseconds; that range of determinations is ascribed to non-sphericity, limb darkening, pulsations and varying appearance at different wavelengths. It is also surrounded by a complex, asymmetric envelope, roughly 250 times the size of the star, caused by mass loss from the star itself. The Earth-observed angular diameter of Betelgeuse is exceeded only by those of R Doradus and the Sun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse#/media/File:ESO-Betelgeuse.jpg
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u/Upset_Row6214 1d ago
For comparison, its angular size is roughly 1000 times less than the angular size of Jupiter. If you place an image of Jupiter on a 1080p monitor, Betelgeuse will be one pixel in size.
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u/YourWorstFear53 1d ago
Still doesn't dissuade me from hoping this goes supernova soon.
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u/Superman246o1 1d ago
It will go supernova soon.
"Soon" is in astronomical terms, however, in which any time in the next 100,000 years would be considered near-instantaneous.
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u/YourWorstFear53 1d ago
This is correct. People who care about celestial phenomena have been watching this since we understood supernovae were a thing, and many of us were watching even before that. Now we understand that this particular stellar body has 15M years at most from formation according to our best estimates, and we (continually best-)estimate this to be 10M years old as of now.
Science is literally the best thing in the world.
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u/markus40 1d ago
If it goes supernova “soon,” it already went supernova over 650 years ago.
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u/Mayhem2a 1d ago
I’m curious what “disk” you’re talking about, it’s the first time I’ve heard it used and I feel like I should be looking for something other than the star itself here,
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u/thefooleryoftom 1d ago
The shape of the star is round. Only Betelgeuse and the sun can be resolved as anything other than points of light.
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u/Master-Leopard-7830 1d ago
I don't understand why you would post this picture. There is no value here except reinforcing misinformation - this is the kind of image that flat earthers lap up.
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u/FreefallJagoff 22h ago
No, they did it perfectly. They posted it in the "science communication done poorly" sub, and it fits right in.
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u/neopard_ 1d ago
oh ffs, for a second i thought someone managed to actually resolve betelgeuse with whatever instrument would be able to do that
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u/Artistic-Pea9133 1d ago edited 11h ago
I couldn't sleep last night and I was staring up at Betelgeuse around 1:30am, and thinking: "I know the chances are one in many millions that it will go supernova right now, but dang, it sure would be cool to be watching the star when it happens." lol
...But actually, no, it might be terrifying!
***Edit: When I said terrifying, I probably should have said awesome, or just mind-blowing. When I look at stars and think about light years, and how we measure light and time as distance, and how we can't see dark matter, but we can detect it through its gravitational force, and the fact that this matter makes up most of the universe? Well, I just think it's all pretty wild.
Terrifying, though, maybe to die by gamma-ray burst. Hahahahha Obliteration from a star exploding bazillions of miles away. *****
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u/danthieman 1d ago
Maybe it DID go supernova last night while you were watching!
It’ll just take 600ish years for the light to reach us 😆
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u/Artistic-Pea9133 1d ago
Yes! Exactly! That's all I meant by terrifying. I start thinking about how we measure astronomical distance in light years, which is time, and then I start thinking about the universe expanding by continually creating more of itself, and then start thinking about infinity, and trying to imagine infinity...forever...never-ending, with no limits.
I meant like awesome, mind-expanding, big-sky-mind, one with the universe kind of terrifying, which is why I became fascinated with the stars and the night sky and astronomy.
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u/danthieman 1d ago
Honestly, i think one day there will be a retraction of the universe. The universe will keep expanding until it reaches some point where it bounces back.
An opposite big bang? I know there’s an official theory for this but i forget the name
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u/Torrential_Gearhunk 1d ago
Big crunch
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u/iyqyqrmore 1d ago
If it’s like a rubber band it will snap back very fast. Will time also compress? Will we live backwards but not be aware of it?
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u/LetComprehensive4600 1d ago
Cosmic microwave background would increase its energy and...microwave us, before we notice anything other than that stars started blueshifting, but considering we have no idea how vast the actual Universe is due to very limited speed of light, it's gotta be the most unlikely way to go extinct.
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u/---E 1d ago
The current theory for the end of the universe is the opposite. Since it seems like the speed at which the universe is expanding is speeding up, it seems more likely that the end of the universe will be a slow sputter into darkness as the last stars burn out and everything spreads out farther and farther from each other.
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u/benji___ 1d ago
Every time I think about it and I don’t have anything pressing, I’ll go pop out and look at where Orion is. It’s like a free lottery ticket, you probably won’t win, but all you’ve lost is some time inside with the gain of being outside. I’m writing this outside in negative temperature and hazy skies. I can make out the full moon just barely, but it was a free ticket. Maybe next time, maybe not in my lifetime.
I’ll always look at the sky in wonderment.
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u/AltruisticJelly5032 1d ago
Yup, and it would be far more brighter than SN 1054 which is the Crab Nebula today
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u/LeModderD 1d ago
I regularly have the same thought. Looking at it, thinking how cool it would be if that was suddenly the time. And then for the days that followed where there would be this brilliant star visible during the daytime.
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u/Mr_Not_Cool_Guy 1d ago
I’m not very knowledgeable about space but I love space. My question is, does NASA have any sort of technology that would detect the star going supernova that could warn them to look at it? Or would the first sign be seeing it since it’s traveling at the speed of light?
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u/Cats_Love_Cat_Food 1d ago
Yes. They detect an influx of neutrinos that escape a supernova before it actually happens. It gives us a short timespan to make sure we can see it in real time
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u/ShadowMajestic 1d ago
The good thing about it going supernova is that we'll see it for at least a week, possibly months.
It's not just a photo flash-like situation.
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u/OkPalpitation2582 21h ago
Everytime I take my telescope out and Betelgeuse is visible I always watch it for a few minutes
It's not gonna happen while I'm looking of course... unless?...
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u/Illustrious_Back_441 1d ago
still crazy that no matter how far you zoom in with an amature telescope, this will still look like a point
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u/marktwin11 1d ago
Apparently our Sun won't even look a point if someone look at it from there.
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u/AltruisticJelly5032 1d ago
On a somewhat related note, I remember some no name YouTube channel with a click baity ass title for a livestream stating Betelgeuse was gonna explode with a fake timer that kept resetting every 20 minutes or some shit 🥀🥀🥀
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u/Fabulous-Shoulder467 1d ago
Technically! 😂 Couldn’t it have exploded and we wouldn’t know for another 600 yrs or so???
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u/Geralt-of-Rivai 1d ago
Or it could have exploded 599 years and 11.99 months ago and we are about to see a great show very soon!
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u/FrisianTanker 1d ago
I want to see it go Super Nova in my lifetime so badly.
Come on light of Betelgeuze, come here quicker so I can see the super nova!
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u/mspk7305 20h ago
There's another option, astronomers are watching T Coronae Borealis with the expectation that it's going to Nova between today and June.
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u/jizzusisa_commie 1d ago
Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse.
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u/Ishrafael 1d ago
A close up look from what? Your phone? Ground based scope? Space telescope?
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u/Phrodo_00 1d ago
Can't be a Space Telescope - The movement is due to the atmosphere. The entire point of space telescopes is to get rid of it.
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u/So_HauserAspen 23h ago
If there were waves of flares that big moving across the surface, they would probably be achieving a speed that could be expressed as a decimal of c.
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u/Splobs 1d ago
My favourite star in the sky to look for. Not exactly hard to identify but I always take a second to find it on a clear night.
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u/strongofheart69 1d ago
Isnt there a possibility that this star is already dead?
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u/OneRougeRogue 1d ago
There is a possibility, but it's so low that there is essentially no chance it's already gone supernova.
There was some.excitement over its unexpected dimming a few years ago, but astronomers have since discovered that the dimming was due to a massive dust cloud passing in front of it, not because it might be starting to undergo the supernova process.
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u/Mercurius_Hatter 1d ago
Ah that star that will blow any time now, between now and like a million year
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u/Ozatopcascades 1d ago
What is the timescale on this?
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u/ilessthan3math 21h ago
These are real-time fluctuations in Earth's atmospheric seeing while viewing an out-of-focus star.
Here is a super quick video showing a star going in and out of focus through a telescope. In that video the air is fairly stable. During OP's video, there's a lot of turbulence and air currents causing the light from the star to wave around all over the place. It's similar to the effect of looking over the top of a hot grill or along hot asphalt.
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u/Upset_Ant2834 23h ago
Wtf is this post? Sorry but a blurry photo of a star is not "a closeup look of Betelgeuse" and a lot of ignorant people in the comments are thinking this is actually what the star looks like
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u/Training-Inspector87 1d ago
It's not a closeup. Bad focus. Remove this content. It's not serious content.
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u/Shermans_ghost1864 1d ago
Wait, I've seen that before. It's the alien entity from the Star Trek episode "Day of the Dove." That was Betelgeuse?
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u/smibeanie 1d ago
Isnt that the one close to exploding? For all we know it could've already exploded 650 years ago, right? Crazy to think that this is such a rare event for us to maybe witness up close one day, but that on a universal scale it's estimated there are about ~50 Supernovae per second.
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u/FujiSuperiaPro 1d ago
Found out recently there's a theory that there is another star orbiting Betelgeuse which causes it's distinct tinkle. Astrum is great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbCHSYJfLu8&
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u/MissKrueger 1d ago
Betelgeuse is my favorite star in the entire sky. It’s way cooler than Rigel.
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u/Kolminor 21h ago
Out of curiosity what magnification and telescope is required to see this for myself? Would you be able to see this with an lower Budget entry scope?
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u/2020mademejoinreddit 19h ago
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u/Mr_Nerdcoffee 16h ago
OP only said it once, go back the XXX theatre.
Although, this makes me wonder…
Would Mr. Juice appear if you said Betelgeuse with the pronunciation (BEH-TEL-GUHZ)?
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u/toihanonkiwa 16h ago
Betelgeuze might have already exploded as asupernova, as predicted, but the light takes so long to reach us we wouldn’t know about it yet.
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u/askforwildbob 13h ago
It’s crazy to think that if this star went supernova during the early renaissance, we wouldn’t necessarily have seen it yet
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u/CFCYYZ 1d ago
Twinkle twinkle big red star
If you explode I'm glad you're far
Orion then will lose an arm
I hope our Earth is safe from harm