The explosion of the star Betelgeuse will become known within a week, the astrophysicist said

MOSCOW, 7 AprInstruments on Earth will record the “death” of the star Betelgeuse a week before the explosion occurs in the sky, people will have time to prepare for observing this rare phenomenon, its brightness will be comparable to the Moon, said astrophysicist Vyacheslav Avdeev .
«We find out that Betelgeuse exploded about a week before we see the flare. Red supergiants, they are absolutely enormous in size, if Betelgeuse is placed in our solar system, then Jupiter probably will not fall through there, but Mars and the asteroid belt will definitely be inside. When the core collapses, this energy needs to come out to become visible. And this, depending on the size of the star, takes different times,» Avdeev said.

The expert recalled the supernova SN1987A on the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy, the explosion of which earthlings observed in 1987. According to him, then special telescopes recorded a neutrino flash, which is released during the collapse of the core, several hours before a visible glow appeared.

«That is, the core collapsed, the neutrinos came out unhindered, and the shock wave was still making its way through this stellar matter that interfered with it. But that star was a blue supergiant, its size was smaller. The shock wave from Betelgeuse will most likely last a week,” Avdeev explained.
The astrophysicist believes that this has advantages: the inhabitants of the Earth will have time to prepare for a rare event, for example, buy a telescope or simply go out of town, where it is best to observe astronomical phenomena.

Avdeev emphasized that the Betelgeuse explosion does not pose any danger to the Earth’s biosphere, since the star is at a safe distance from the planet. “An interesting, beautiful phenomenon will just happen, a flash that will be comparable in brightness to the Moon,” the expert added.

Neutrinos are electrically neutral subatomic particles. They rarely interact with matter and can pass through light-years of lead without disturbing a single atom.
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant at a late stage of evolution, one of the brightest stars in the sky. It is located 600 light years from Earth. In 2019, the star began to rapidly lose visible luminosity. Then it was assumed that it could explode in the near future. But, as scientists have established, the cause was an ejected cloud of dust that blocked visibility. Then Betelgeuse's brightness returned.