It would be great to know when a giant star is about to die. A group of people have done that. The star will likely explode within a few years if you see it.
Massive stars go through several violent phases when they reach the end of their lives. The star's core is made up of hydrogen, helium, carbon, oxygen, magnesium, and Silicon. The star begins to form iron at the end of the chain. This spells the end for the star, and in less than a dozen minutes, it explodes into a supernova.
It's difficult to tell what's happening in the stars' hearts from the outside. At the end of their lives, these giant stars get bigger. They are up to 100,000 times brighter than the sun. The stars' surface temperatures drop, making them look like giants.
There is a surprise supernova detected by the james wbb space telescope.
Betelgeuse is the most famous example of a near- terminal star. The star, which is 11 times larger than the sun, would stretch to the Jupiter's equator if placed within our solar system. There is a chance that an astronomer could be a million years away from seeing it. Even though we know that these stars will explode in a supernova, there is no way to get a more precise estimate. It used to be that way.
Astronomers have developed a way to spot supernovas that are likely to happen in the next few years. They published their results in a paper that was accepted for publication in a journal.
There are a few dozen type II-P supernovae. The explosions remain bright after the initial eruption.
Astronomers have found images of stars before they exploded, and they all seem to be red supergiants like Betelgeuse. It's clear that those kinds of stars are ready to explode.
A dense shroud of material surrounds the stars that result in these kinds of supernovas. The shrouds are larger than what is measured around Betelgeuse. It's the heating of that material from the initial shock wave that causes the brightness to linger; there's simply more stuff lying around to keep glowing after the blast.
The dense shroud makes this kind of supernova visible more quickly than its more exposed cousins. The shock wave loses steam when it hits the material around the star after the explosion. After the mixing of the shock wave and the surrounding material, the high-energy radiation is released in optical wavelength.
The dense shrouds of material around the stars seem to be a sign that a supernova is going to happen.
How long does it take to make that shroud? Two models were studied. The star blew high-velocity winds from its surface, which slowly detached pieces of itself and spread it around to make the shroud. The star suffered a violent pre-super nova explosion that sent gas weighing up to one-tenth the mass of the sun into space in less than a year.
All that material was modeled to see how it would affect our images. The star would be heavily obscured in a way that our current technology could detect.
The slow-and-steady model wouldn't work because we have direct images of some of the pre-super nova stars. The star wouldn't have been visible.
Supergiant stars are likely to go supernova within a few years if they build a thick shroud around themselves. If you happen to be traveling through the universe, you should consider yourself warned.
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