What Would Happen If Betelgeuse Exploded Right Now?

If the red supergiant star Betelgeuse were to explode right now, we would witness a spectacle of the millennium. The sky would be on fire and the night would be as bright as day. Betelgeuse is about to explode - that much is certain. However, scientists are not in complete agreement as to whether "shortly" is tomorrow or in a thousand years! It is also possible that Betelgeuse has already exploded and we haven't even noticed it yet!

[Alteris]

Betelgeuse is 650 light years away so it could have already exploded and we wouldn't know for awhile

[fotodeci]

If it explodes right now, we wouldn't notice it. Our great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren would see it 640 years from now.

[raytribble]

Let’s just say the 649.9 years ago Betelgeuse went super nova… other than keeping all of us amateur astronomers up until she goes dim… what else can we do but wait.

[drawingdead]

If it exploded 'right now' we wouldn't know it for 15 generations.

[cybertron]

Well, to answer your question.If beetlejuice exploded right now, we would know for another six hundred and seventy five years, and then it really wouldn't matter, because it's too far away to do anything

[ulfalling]

If the star exploded right now, we wouldn't know until year 3000.

[williamhepfer]

If Betelgeuse exploded "right now" it would be 640 years before we would see it.

[josephnash]

I hope the gravitational waves generated by the Beteljuice supernova do not cause the flat Earth to tip over!😲

[kurt]

If it exploded right now we wouldn't know about it until until the year 2624

[cybertron]

650 ish...we don't have a 1st down marker over there

[lCountMike]

If it exploded now we would find about it in 642.5 years because it's as many light years distant.

[johnemanuele]

What a fascinating and memorable experience that would be

[paulschaeffer]

So how much global warming would be caused if Betelgeuse goes supernova and night turns today? Would nights still cool off as much as they do now? Would daytime temperature soar due to the additive light / solar radiation?

[glenlongstreet]

What does Beatle Juice taste like? Would it be the same as bug juice?

[duff]

Will let you know in a few million years

[nellyjohnson]

I don’t think it would be a good idea to look at the super nova without sun 😮ujjk;