Betelgeuse looks a lot stranger than we thought, and physics shouldn't allow it

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Credits
Writer: David Shlivko
Editor: Pavel Allsi
Thumbnail Designer: Peter Sheppard
Producer: Alex McColgan / Raquel Taylor

#Astrum #Astronomy #Space #stars #astrophysics #dopplereffect #betelgeuse #newdiscovery #redgiant

[gerald-gsvh]

I hope I live long enough to see the effects of the explosion. I'm 70 years old. I have been watching and waiting for the event, but it just seems to be beyond my view. In my lifetime, I have witnessed comets, the collision of the comet fragment into the surface of Jupiter, the landing on the moon, (most memorable to be sure). The crowning glory to this would be seeing the phoenix of Betelguese.

[highviewbarbell]

youre right, physics SHOULDNT allow it. together we can stop it!

[bluewind]

That visual of Betelgeuse's surface violently boiling is a whole new level of cosmic horror I never thought I could experience

[EvilOttoJrProductions]

I've heard for a while that Betelgeuse is a non-spherical shape, but had a lot of trouble visualizing how that could possibly look. The simulations and comparisons of Betelgeuse to a giant drop of boiling water finally made it click for me! Thanks for the informative video!

[MarkfrmCanada]

My opinion on this topic is that I'm completely unqualified to have one. I look forward to this mystery being eventually solved.

[TehKhronicler]

This is a scary chaotic behemoth of a star. Elite Dangerous was a game that let you experience just how absurdly huge it is, there's a primal terror we tiny beings experience in the face of it, but there's also an incomprehensible majesty to it, like with all celestial objects, but this one be

[snowkracker]

I had to rewatch the beginning and pause the video to try and wrap my head around Betelgeuse’s rotation speed. It really puts into perspective the size of the star for me. It’s those kinds of facts that really fascinates me with the universe. Thanks for making such great thought provoking content.

[GojiMet]

Wonder if that's because Alex shouted "Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse!!!"

[kevinschier]

Every time someone says "it defies the laws of physics" but they are looking at live data it just means that their physics model is incredibly terribly bad.

[Snwar]

the oblateness of such a fast rotating star should look hilarious if viewed closer

[irgendwieanders]

0:26 ...and then he had said Beetlejuice 3 times...

[letusreasontogether]

5:26 - I don't think that is how angular momentum works. If a rotating object expands, the surface velocity should remain relatively constant while the rate of rotation decreases. Expanding stars probably have a few other factors to add in, like internal particle friction and fluid currents, that may decrease the surface velocity to some extent, but not by the factor of expansion.

[richardwilcox]

7:10 Ludicrous Speed is one thing... but we're in real trouble if it ever goes Plaid 😳

[pseudonayme]

Methinks we should consult Ford Prefect about this, since it's his home system.

[theworstwizard]

You all have such smart comments and here I am thinking about how much the model of Betelgeuse at 0:50 looks like an omelet

[robertmacpherson]

If enough observations were made, and with sufficient time in between them, the effect of "boiling" should cancel out and leave us with something very like the true rotation. Since we don't know how the data were collected, we can't really guess what the truth of the thing is likely to be.

[MrGezz]

I will bet that its surface is a chaotic turbulent mess. It is obviously not breaking any laws of physics, but challenging our limited understanding of them.
I do get a little bemused when people say Betelgeuse is about to go supernova. It could well have done 300 years ago, meaning it's another 350 years before we find out.

[btgardener]

How exactly would a star rotating at 5 km/sec be breaking the laws of physics? A study by the Royal Observatory of Belgium concluded that most stars cooler than F7 generally rotate at no faster than 50 km/sec, while hotter stars -- A-class (white), B-class (bluish-white), and O-class (blue) -- are often rotating faster than 100 km/sec. Hell, Jupiter's rotational velocity is 12.6 km/sec, more than twice as fast as Betelgeuse's observed rotational speed.

Looking at blue supergiants, the rotational velocity is even higher. Rigel's is 25±3 km/sec, even though it has an estimated 21±3 solar masses compared to Betelgeuse's 14-19 solar masses. Nothing being stated about Betelgeuse in this video is that extraordinary compared to other stars -- save that it might, possibly, go supernova in the next 100, 000 years or so.

[jdlech]

And what we see now is 650 years old. Everything we see the star doing happened 650 years ago.

[highlander]

I have photographed nebula's constellations planets solar eclipses annular eclipses lunar eclipses. I have seen the transition of Mercury I missed the transition of Venus but that's outside my control The last thing on my bucket list....

a supernova.

I just hope I get to see it in my lifetime.