Earth may soon get a second sun

I will be glad if the phenomenon continues to exist for years instead of weeks because it will reduce my electricity bills.

Sounds interesting that earth will be experiencing or having two suns. but I wonder if that is the case, when there is just days and no nights for about a week, how would we sleep at night when it is appearing to be bright? I think somehow there would be negative effects that there would be two suns shining on earth.

Second sun is probably a bit of a stretch, but it will be fairly bright. It will likely be as bright as the full moon but still concentrated to a very small point in the sky, making it very bright to look at and casting a little more light than Venus on a really good night, it will probably be capable of casting distinct shadows. "Soon" is a relative term in astronomy. A super nova of Betelgeuse could still be thousands of years away as it is still going through a pulsing and throwing off it's outer atmosphere. Or it could just as well blow tomorrow. It is difficult, if not impossible to nail down a narrow time span when trying to predict when a star will go super nova. We only know that it is in the end of it's life, we just don't know how far in to that phase it is. It will be strange though, to look up and see it gone. Betelgeuse was one of the first stars my father taught me to identify when I was learning astronomy. Hopefully it will leave a really nice nebula in it's place, it would be a shame to see nothing but an empty patch of sky where this giant marvel once sat. There is a small chance it could be big enough as well to form a black hole, but it is uncertain if there is enough mass to do this.

That will be awesome yet very interesting and that will be a history day for everyone that is a alive and a story to tell brighter days and more day like nights interesting. Hopefully people don't start going crazy thumbing the world is going to end soon or something that will be horrible and I bet everyone in the united states will start robbing stores and people acting like fools. Sad but true I guess when we are scared we do crazy things for our survive. Well yeah off topic I personally will recoded it I hope it happens soon that will be awesome lol .

Well it depends what is very soon, do you know their very soon could be a few million years, as when you compare to the galaxy. We are just here for million year and that is very young too. I doubt we would be able to see it within our life time.

if it happends, i can imagine there won't be a night for a week. it is amazing. will it harm for us or not?

A scientists idea of "soon" could be anything from tomorrow to a million years hence. The fact is, it's not possible to say EXACTLY when Betelgeuse will go super nova so any suggestions that it's going to happen in 2012 or at any other specific time is just guesswork.

That is very interesting. I hope it will not be harmful to us at all. It might be kind of cool if it is only really temporary and only lasts a couple of weeks. I wonder if we would get a lot more heat then we are accustomed too. Hopefully it would happen in the winter time so that it does not get too hot here for us. It does not sound like they fear it harming us so that is a good thing.

Well if this scientisst is to e believed that would be cool, confusing as all heck to birds and other animals but we'll see what happens. I wish I would be able to see this though but all I have left is a bit of light perseption.

That would be a once in a lifetime experience. SOmething that we can tell or children's children when we grow old. I'm just wondering on it's effect to life on earth.

Science always have new developments and whether we like it or not, if they say it will happen, then it will happen. What leaves us to do is wait until this thing happen and let see how this will affect earth as a planet and us as human beings.

wow! that would be extra cool!!!!! no nights just like xmas in july!! less electricity bills ..oh and i hope we have a national holiday to celebrate a one in a lifetime event!!( that would happen in my wildest dreams :D) just one problem,, how hot will it be if sometimes we cant bear the heat from sun only?? if the star is 640 light years from earth, that means if it is to burst (as per earth) it did burst 640 years ago, right?

having 2 suns would greatly affect the balance of nature, plants and fungi that thrive in the dark will die out, nocturnal animals that hunt at night will go hungry the same way animals that depend on darkness for cover and protection will become exposed to predators. Extinction of one specie will lead to another then another because of the food chain.If it only lasts for weeks then it won't do much damage, but how sure are the scientists?

The dreams of past are realities today.Hence earth may get asecond sun and nights will not be known to our future generations.

Not so! Even if Betelgeuse were to blow tomorrow it would be much brighter than Venus but not as bright as a full moon.. Nice poetic concept but bad science. Dr. Carter does not give a date in his article so any claim that this will occur soon is also not creditable. For more information on this follow this link: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/21/betelgeuse-and-2012/

wow..it will be great ...a new thing to experience..imagine we all be awake for as much time we want...as when it gets dark ...we start feeling like...now its night and we have to go to sleep....but sure we are going to get tired....and so we all will rest according to the clocks...and we will all have to make artificial darkness in the room as we all are used to it......it will be like we rest in the afternoon....but will that sleep will be so complete?...

Well this will be a unique experience and we all will be happy to see that moment. I read this news today itself in daily newspaper and quite amazed and excited. Well this kind of event occurs in a lakh year or so and we all are lucky enough to see this moment will our own eyes. We all are crossing our hands and waiting for that exciting moment

Well I guess if that happens, we will just get very tired as the nights have become days. Otherwise, it'll be nice to just cover up the windows with curtains or venetian blinds to block out the rays. Interesting

Is it true? Then we dont have nights hereafter..