Star Names

[beso]

Sometime in the next thousand years Alpha Orionis (aka Betelgeuse) is expected to explode. Its diameter already collapses under gravitation at a rate approaching 1000 km per second and is accelerating. At the point of minimum diameter it will blast its outer layers away and will shine brighter than the full moon.

It is only about 500 light years from earth. On astronomical scales this is very close. We will be blasted with a zillion neutrinos which fortunately interact so little with matter that they will pass right through the earth and have no significent effects. Beams of gamma rays and atomic particles travelling close to the speed of light will arise from its poles which are fortunately not aligned with the earth or we would be fried.

It will be a remarkable phenomonon at such a close distance. Its core will either become a neutron star or a black hole and fade away.

Now my questions. Would you like to see that? And after the decline, does Beta Orionis inherit the alpha title and so on down the sequence.

[R1Geezer]

Yes I would love to see it and it will still be alpha Orionis, when it collapes to a black hole as predicted by the Chandrasakar limit, ie it is well over with approx 20 solar masses, ie low density but huge size, would reach beyond mars if placed where our sun is.

[jake-the-peg]

Think that's something?

Check out eta carinae!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eta_Carinae

further away but 100 solar masses five times bigger than Betelgeuse and highly unstable - if there will be another supernova in our lifetimes this is the front runner.

I'm not sure about nomenclature - should it happen I'm sure the iau will have a good old debate on it - I suspect not as all the names would have to change and it would get very complex.

In scientific terms this nomenclature is outdated anyway there are several better catalogues in general use

http://www.sal.wisc.edu/WUPPE/namestar.html