Lead
Astronomer Herschel was one of the first to discover the change in the brightness of Betelgeuse, and he also discovered Uranus, the only red star that can be seen at night.
Betelgeuse's brightness has changed for hundreds of years, and although the brightness of the Herschel era is no longer observed, Betelgeuse is still unstable and is likely to erupt at any time.
If Betelgeuse erupts, it will cause an extremely bright night on the earth at night, and this light will continue to exceed the level of the full moon for at least half a year, which will greatly save electricity bills for daily life.
However, the outbreak of Betelgeuse may also produce large amounts of ultraviolet and X-ray rays, which can greatly endanger human, animal and plant life, so it is important not to ignore this potential danger because of the increased brightness.
The world we live in today is actually mostly in a state of calm, but there are many celestial bodies far away from the Earth that are under great threat in the future.
So how far is Betelgeuse from us, and is its outbreak really a threat?
1. The outbreak of Betelgeuse.
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star with a very high luminosity, which is why one of the few stars that can be seen at night is brighter than any other star, and can be seen by the naked eye.
Betelgeuse is the β star of the constellation Scorpio, which was called "Antares" by Chinese people in ancient times, it is about 640 light-years away from the Earth, but this star is very large, it is a kind of red supergiant, and it is hundreds of times larger than the sun when seen from the perspective of the earth.
The luminosity of this star is even higher, and the brightness of Betelgeuse changes regularly, generally every 900 days, there will be a sudden rise in the brightness of the extremely significant in dozens of days, but then, its brightness will continue to decline, and its brightness will decline very quickly.
Before Betelgeuse's eruption, the change in its brightness was generally not felt in daily life, because it was as bright as the stars we see now, but when it erupted, it would have an unimaginable brightness.
Betelgeuse's brightness is enhanced by the fact that its hydrogen layer is undergoing nuclear fusion, and the light produced by nuclear fusion is so strong that it can penetrate the outer layers of the star, which can be said to be very intense.
Its brightness can be increased to a magnitude 3, which is very high, generally speaking, Betelgeuse is only 11.5 magnitude, and the brightest Venus is not as bright as the stars we mentioned earlier that can be seen at night.
The brightness of the 3rd magnitude star is 1.4*10^5 times the brightness of the current Betelgeuse, this number is very large, its brightness is higher than the famous high-brightness supernova, and some people even believe that the brightness of Betelgeuse will increase until it penetrates the sun's radiation, which is simply an unimaginable huge number, which not only makes Betelgeuse brighter than any star in the night, but even more than the full moon.
Empirically, at night, what we see is generally darker, but with the light of the moon, it will become brighter, so in the absence of lights, plus the brilliance of the full moon, this kind of light will become brighter, but if Betelgeuse erupts, its radiation will make the earth at night become a day, which is really an extremely rare situation.
Although Betelgeuse is hundreds of light-years away, it has the potential to have an impact on Earth.
First of all, this huge light will inevitably penetrate the earth's atmosphere and bring this radiation into the earth's world, which will greatly change the optical environment in the earth's atmosphere, so the rise in temperature is inevitable.
But conversely, pollutants emitted from the Earth's atmosphere form a protective layer that blocks most of the light from reaching the Earth's surface.
The probability of Betelgeuse's radiation reaching the earth's surface is not very large, this distance is hundreds of light-years, so the radiation that can directly reach the earth is only 20-30%, which is not very rigorous.
In this way, it is almost unrealistic for Betelgeuse's nuclear fusion radiation to reach the earth and below, but for extreme things, there must be a possibility of happening, if Betelgeuse's radiation reaches the earth, then the entire daily life will be broken, and even the global ecology will be destroyed.
2. Protection against radiation from Betelgeuse.
Astronomers believe that the distance that Betelgeuse's radiation can reach is not more than 64 light years, but protective measures still have to be taken, after all, the future, no one knows, if Betelgeuse's radiation directly hits the earth, then the earth's atmosphere will be consumed very quickly, but the atmosphere that can protect the earth also has a certain thickness, if the thickness of the atmosphere is consumed, then the next will be the arrival of the shock wave, the energy of the shock wave is extremely large, even the center of the earth will be torn apart, In this way, we have no room to survive.
So to protect Betelgeuse radiation, it is necessary to strengthen the earth's atmosphere, astronomers believe that this can be done, if the atmosphere is strengthened, then life on the earth will have enough time and opportunity to migrate from the earth to other planets, after all, nature is balanced, human beings have harmed the ecology of the earth, then nature will count us out of the earth, the earth will continue to exist, before the migration of life on the earth, it can be said that it is hundreds of years, Or even thousands of years.
If human beings can maintain it during this time, then it can be said that it has ushered in a second spring, during which they can explore the outside world and find a new living environment.
And if human beings do not discover a new living environment during this time, then life on the earth will be in extreme danger at the end of this time, and it can only destroy the life on the surrounding planets with the destruction of the earth, which is extremely unfavorable.
So during this period, what kind of development will human beings have, for example, from ancient people to the Iron Age, World War II to the present, then what kind of life will be there during this time, this is not something we can predict.
Betelgeuse's radiation is indeed a threat to life on Earth, but this threat is not without the ability to resist, people just don't know how to resist, and after discovering Betelgeuse, they can reserve enough time and methods to deal with the radiation it produces.
epilogue
The observations and studies of astronomers can help humans better understand various phenomena in the universe and prepare for possible future events, but for celestial bodies outside the solar system, their observations and studies can only make certain speculations, and there are many unknown and unpredictable factors.
Therefore, human beings still need to maintain a certain degree of vigilance against some cosmic events that may occur in the future, and science and technology are also important means to protect human beings from potential risks and threats.