when is the next predicted supernova in our galaxy?

Question

(I remember reading something of one soon, but i cant remember when and where.)

Answer 1

My bet for the next supernova would be Eta Carinae. It's an extremely massive star that has been pulsating wildly and throwing off huge amounts of gas and dust in the last few hundred years, a sure sign that its days are numbered.

Answer 2

For all we know, it's already happened, but the light and neutrinos from the blast hasn't reached us yet. Even if one has already occurred, we may not see it visually due to the interstellar dust that hides much of the galaxy from view, in optical wavelengths at least. Regardless of where in our galaxy it occurs, a supernova would trigger a massive signal in neutrino telescopes when the surge of neutrinos from the star's collapsing core passes through the Earth. We would get enough notice for astronomers to turn their telescopes on the supernova in progress and watch it unfold. In the case of a core collapse supernova, which destroys massive stars, the shock waves take hours to reach the surface unlike an exploding white dwarf. The stars that are known to be ready to go off as a supernova are Eta Carinae, Betelgeuse and IK Pegasi. The first two are a hyper-giant and giant star that are near the point of forming an iron core, which will trigger a core collapse supernova. IK Pegasi is a white dwarf that has been feeding off a companion star and steadily accumulating matter over time. It's mass is just below the point where the stars electrons can no longer support it. At a distance of 150 light years, it won't be close enough to do serious harm to Earth, but it will light up the sky like the full moon and be visible in broad daylight for weeks.

Answer 3

Supernovae can't be predicted in the sense that we could give a certain range of dates. We can suggest stars wich are close to the end of their life and are showing signs of becoming unstable. But the error range is thousands and sometimes millions of years. Certainly nothing that would help to point an observatory. Not that this is necessary. Any supernova will light up our x-ray satellites like Christmas trees and we now do have internet links between these x-ray events and optical observatories which allow those telescopes to start taking pictures long before the supernovae have been brightening enough in the optical.

There are a couple of supernovae per century in our galaxy, over half of which are behind dust clouds and which therefor can't be seen. That leaves us with one supernova per century and a few per millenium which are actually close.

Answer 4

Although I'm not familiar with this work by Hawking, I can say that Betelgeuse is the star that most people think about going supernova in the very near future (not to say there aren't other candidates).

Answer 5

There are many stars of which we can predict the supernova but there are too much.
Some of the popular stars which are supposed for supernova:
betelguse
Antares
Aldebaran

but not in coming 300 years

Answer 6

Due to the time period it takes for a star to enter into its final stages of life, and the time period over which its dieing takes place, it is not possible to predict with any degree of accuracy when these things might occur. Furthermore, in certain cases, stars are hidden behind or within massive dust clouds (such as at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy) and we cannot even distinctly see the stars for measurement of their chemical composition and status...

Answer 7

Despite previous answers, super novae can be predicted, but only to an accuracy of a few thousand years.

The next one that is considerably close to us is predicted to happen any day now (+ or - a few thousand years). So keep your eyes on the sky for it could be visible even during the day!!

Answer 8

Supernovae are nearly unpredictable. All theories of predicting one are yet unproven. If it's within 4 light years of earth we'll never know about it as it would wipe out life on earth (about the same time we'd see it).

Answer 9

Coming soon to a galaxy near you.

Answer 10

They CAN'T be predicted as most stars are too far away to get significant data.