What will happen after Betelgeuse becomes a white dwarf?

Answer 1

As it is a red supergiant, "Beetlejuice" is more likely to become a Supernova because of its huge size (650 solar diameters, i.e. it is as large as the orbit of Jupiter) than it is to fuse all its helium into carbon and dwindle away to a white dwarf as smaller, aging stars will do.

Betelgeuse is so large and so close (430 light years away) that it is the star with the third largest angular diameter as viewed from Earth [2], smaller only than the Sun and R Doradus, and one of only a dozen or so stars that telescopes have imaged as a visible disc.

If it does become a white dwarf, it will become much smaller and no longer present a sizeable disc to our eyes.

The Star's Future

Astronomers predict that Betelgeuse will ultimately undergo a type II supernova explosion although it is possible that the mass (15 - 17 solar masses) is low enough for Betelgeuse to leave a rare oxygen-neon white dwarf.

Opinions are divided as to the likely timescale for this event. Some regard the star's current variability as suggesting that it is already in the carbon burning phase of its life cycle, and will therefore undergo a supernova explosion at some time in the next thousand years or so.

Skeptics dispute this contention and regard the star as being likely to survive much longer. There is a consensus that such a supernova would be a spectacular astronomical event, but would not — being so distant — represent any significant threat to life on Earth.

Even so, Betelgeuse would brighten at least 10,000 times as a supernova, causing it to shine with the luminosity of a crescent Moon. Some sources predict a maximum apparent magnitude equal to about that of the full Moon (mv = -12.5).

This would likely last for several months. It would look like a brilliant point, the brightness of a full Moon with the color of an incandescent bulb at night, and easily visible in daylight. After that period it would gradually diminish until after some months or years it would disappear from naked eye view.

Then Orion's left shoulder would vanish for a time until, in a few centuries, a splendid nebula would develop. However, if Betelgeuse's axis (one of its poles) is pointed towards Earth there would be tangible effects here. A shower of gamma rays and other cosmic particles would be directed at Earth.

There would be spectacular aurorae and possibly a measurable diminution of the ozone layer with consequent adverse radiation effects on life. In such an orientation towards the solar system it would also appear many times brighter than if its axis were pointed away.

WHITE DWARFS

A white dwarf is an astronomical object which is produced when a low or medium mass star dies. These stars are not heavy enough to generate the core temperatures required to fuse carbon in nucleosynthesis reactions. After such a star has become a red giant during its helium-burning phase, it will shed its outer layers to form a planetary nebula, leaving behind an inert core consisting mostly of carbon and oxygen.

This core has no further source of energy, and so will gradually radiate away its energy and cool down. The core, no longer supported against gravitational collapse by fusion reactions, becomes extremely dense, with a typical mass of that of the sun contained in a volume about equal to that of the Earth. The white dwarf is supported only by electron degeneracy pressure. The maximum mass of a white dwarf, beyond which degeneracy pressure can no longer support it, is about 1.4 solar masses. A white dwarf which approaches this limit (known as the Chandrasekhar limit), typically by mass transfer from a companion star, may explode as a Type Ia supernova via a process known as carbon detonation.

Eventually, over hundreds of billions of years, white dwarfs will cool to temperatures at which they are no longer visible. However, over the universe's lifetime to the present (about 13.7 billion years) even the oldest white dwarfs still radiate at temperatures of a few thousand kelvins.

As a class, white dwarfs are fairly common; they comprise roughly 6% of all stars.

IF IT GOES SUPERNOVA, WHEN WILL THAT BE?

New light was shed on this issue in 1980 when 1st century BC Chinese records were unearthed by Shu-ren, Jianmin and Jin-Yi which refer to the color of Betelgeuse as being white or yellow.

However, Ptolemy writing in 150 AD calls it a red star. Therefore, Fang Lizhi, a Chinese astrophysicist, proposed that Betelgeuse could have turned into a red giant star during that period.

It is known that as stars use up the hydrogen fuel in their cores, their color changes from white to yellow to red. Shu-ren et al. suggest that Betelgeuse could have changed its color when it expelled a shell of dust and gas, that, even now, can be seen to be expanding away from it.

Thus, if their theory is right, it is unlikely that Betelgeuse will become a supernova any time soon because a star usually stays a red giant for tens of thousands of years.

Answer 2

Betelgeuse will become not white dwarf it's too mass high Betelgeuse will be neutron star or quark star

Answer 3

It would be too faint to be seen in anything but the largest telescopes. However, Betelgeuse is a massive star that will go supernova first, and what remains would not be a white dwarf at all, but either a neutron star or a black hole..

Answer 4

Betelgeuse is a prime candidate to ends its life in a supernova explosion. The end result of a supernova is either a neutron star or a black hole, not a white dwarf.

Answer 5

I don't think Betelgeuse is smal enough to become a white dwarf but if it does, It will become very dense and generate a lot of gravity. It will cool and eventually fade away

Answer 6

The orbit of Jupiter is close to 1200 solar diameters accross. Betelgeuse wouldn't come close.
Try answering the question without blindly copying and pasting a bunch of unrelated junk.

Answer 7

Most likely it will supernova, however, it's remotely possible that it may become a white dwarf. If it does, not much will "happen" as it will exist in that state for around a googol years or so until it becomes a black dwarf. (providing it doesn't get "claimed" by a black hole or suffer any other cataclysmic event)

Answer 8

Betelgeuse is a red super giant which is too big to
become a white dwarf.It will most likely supernova
then become a black hole or neutron star.

Answer 9

well i don,t think it will affect us, we are just to far away, but lETs hope that, Betelgeuse dos not have any planets that support life, other wise they will be toast, good bye et it was nice knowing you whats happening to the Houyhnhnm's

Answer 10

My newspaper subscription will expire.