Is the puzzling star Betelgeuse going to explode in our lifetime after all?

Jul 10, 2023
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I always find the term 'in our lifetime' interesting. If Betelgeuse were to go supernova tomorrow, then it happened about 650 years. So, we may see it in our lifetime but it certainly didn't happen in our lifetime!
 
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Nov 25, 2019
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I always find the term 'in our lifetime' interesting. If Betelgeuse were to go supernova tomorrow, then it happened about 650 years. So, we may see it in our lifetime but it certainly didn't happen in our lifetime!
We use the convention of always using Earth's reference for events. If we didn't and allowed any arbitrary reference we could rig them so that all events in history occurred at the same time. To avoid such absurdities we like to use the Earth's reference point. This also helps to keep cause and effect in place.
 
As @ChrisA said, all events are noted for time we see it, not when it may have actually occurred, partially because of uncertainties of distances. Betelgeuse has an uncertainty of distance of about 140 LY, so, even when we see it actually happening, we will know when it actually occurred only within that range, and we can’t predict supernovae yet with any real certainty. So, events occur when we see them.
In this case, all we can say is that it may occur within the next 100 000 years.
 
Jul 10, 2023
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3
10
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We use the convention of always using Earth's reference for events. If we didn't and allowed any arbitrary reference we could rig them so that all events in history occurred at the same time. To avoid such absurdities we like to use the Earth's reference point. This also helps to keep cause and effect in place.
Um... I wasn't referring to 'any arbitrary reference'. I was referring to the absolutes of speed of light and distance. I then referred to Earth's timeline, which we all understand. My contention that although we may observe in our lifetime but that it won't have happened in our lifetime remains correct. I don't believe I was dealing in absurdities.
 
Um... I wasn't referring to 'any arbitrary reference'. I was referring to the absolutes of speed of light and distance. I then referred to Earth's timeline, which we all understand. My contention that although we may observe in our lifetime but that it won't have happened in our lifetime remains correct. I don't believe I was dealing in absurdities.
Distance isn't an absolute. If it were, there would be no motion in the universe. As soon as anything goes in motion it begins shortcutting distances. Distance expands and contracts.

The speed of light is independent of all velocity in that it is counterintuitively fixed positional ("superposition" center of the universe (c='1' | t=0)) to all velocity in the universe.
 
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