When we look up at the night sky, we see familiar stars and constellations that have been visible for thousands of years. Yet stars do not last forever. They live and die, though on exceptionally long timescales. But how long will it take for these changes to be visible in the constellations visible from Earth?Much of this depends on the lifetimes of certain stars. Most stars in our galaxy are small. However, in the constellations we see, large and bright stars are overrepresented. The larger the star, the shorter its lifetime and the sooner it will disappear from our sky.Stars about eight times the size of the sun and larger will undergo a core-collapse supernova at the ends of their lifetimes. These massive explosions are impressive sights and signal stars disappearing from our sky.Related: Can you see stars in light-polluted skies?Many astronomers think Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star, will be the first star to disappear from our sky. It could vanish tomorrow … or 100,000 years from now. When it explodes, it will be brighter than the full moon — bright enough to be seen during the day or cast shadows in the night.Another star of interest is Eta Carinae, which is visible mostly from the Southern Hemisphere. This binary star system is hundreds of times the mass of the sun. Around 180 years ago, Eta Carinae experienced a massive outburst. The star survived, but its next outburst may result in a supernova that destroys the star.It’s difficult to predict the exact moment these stars will explode, but one clue could come from ghostly particles called neutrinos. During a supernova, most of the energy is not in the optical but rather emitted as neutrinos.”The neutrino production from Betelgeuse will ramp up in the last phases of its life so that in the last day, it will emit enough neutrinos that our current detectors will see it,” said Brian Fields, a supernova expert at the University of Illinois. We’ll have about 24 hours’ notice before the star explodes.Such a massiv …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnWhen we look up at the night sky, we see familiar stars and constellations that have been visible for thousands of years. Yet stars do not last forever. They live and die, though on exceptionally long timescales. But how long will it take for these changes to be visible in the constellations visible from Earth?Much of this depends on the lifetimes of certain stars. Most stars in our galaxy are small. However, in the constellations we see, large and bright stars are overrepresented. The larger the star, the shorter its lifetime and the sooner it will disappear from our sky.Stars about eight times the size of the sun and larger will undergo a core-collapse supernova at the ends of their lifetimes. These massive explosions are impressive sights and signal stars disappearing from our sky.Related: Can you see stars in light-polluted skies?Many astronomers think Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star, will be the first star to disappear from our sky. It could vanish tomorrow … or 100,000 years from now. When it explodes, it will be brighter than the full moon — bright enough to be seen during the day or cast shadows in the night.Another star of interest is Eta Carinae, which is visible mostly from the Southern Hemisphere. This binary star system is hundreds of times the mass of the sun. Around 180 years ago, Eta Carinae experienced a massive outburst. The star survived, but its next outburst may result in a supernova that destroys the star.It’s difficult to predict the exact moment these stars will explode, but one clue could come from ghostly particles called neutrinos. During a supernova, most of the energy is not in the optical but rather emitted as neutrinos.”The neutrino production from Betelgeuse will ramp up in the last phases of its life so that in the last day, it will emit enough neutrinos that our current detectors will see it,” said Brian Fields, a supernova expert at the University of Illinois. We’ll have about 24 hours’ notice before the star explodes.Such a massiv …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
