in the spectacularly unpredictable worlds of astronomy astrophysics and science in general how
often does someone get to witness a spectacle that has truly never been seen by humanity before in
the words of UC Berkeley researcher wwen Jacobson gallon we watched a red supergiant star explode
yes there are an estimated 100 to 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe
and a virtually unfathomable number of stars but the chances of astronomers seeing a
real-time explosion of a red supergiant is nearly impossible but now we have welcome to Factnomenal,
in today's video we dive into this unique moment in humanity's quest
to understand our universe what we are learning from this event and when will
we get a much closer and less comfortable look at our own sun in its death throes
a star the size of our sun or smaller will ultimately end up a white dwarf
while one much bigger than a red supergiant could collapse into a black hole so there's
a window that stars need to fit into in order to reach their spectacular end as a supernova
this doesn't mean however that humanity never gets to witness the event at least the aftermath
chinese astronomers in 185 a.d observed a guest star that suddenly appeared and stayed for a whole
eight months how stunning this must have been for these witnesses as well as others elsewhere
who no doubt took note of the visitor in 1006 a.d another guest popped up in the constellation lupus
bright enough to be visible in the daytime it's only once every 50 years that a star in our galaxy
actually goes supernova so seeing the event as it happens nearby is extremely rare
astronomers had already observed red supergiants before their death rose as well as after
but what happened recently is something new and exciting the saga began in the summer of 2020 when
astronomers at the university of Hawaii institute for astronomy panned stars on Haleakala maui
detected a star flickering with bright flashes of radiation this was later interpreted as gas
exploding from the star surface not just any star it was a red supergiant one of the largest
stars in the universe with volumes that can exceed one thousand times the radius of the sun
this particular red supergiant is some 120 million light years away from ngc 5371 a barred spiral
galaxy that is face on to our vantage point and a stunning image available to backyard astronomers
for over 130 days astronomers watched this dying star with the fascination of detectives
detectives who for the first time would not be wondering when the event will happen or be on the
scene afterwards to take pictures and interview witnesses this time they were the witnesses
using two telescopes one at the university of hawaii facility where the anomaly was detected
along with the w.m keck observatory on mauna kea hawaii island scientists were on high alert when
their suspect went supernova it was quickly dubbed supernova sn 2020 tlf much of what was
monitored and discovered by astronomers came in collaboration with the two hawaii observatories
and northwestern university researchers astronomers credit remote access to the keck
observatory telescopes from the evanston illinois campus as key to saving critical observation time
and being able to monitor for transit events like supernovas the date the light from the explosion
reached earth and was observed was september 16 2020 the team was ready when the supernova
lit up the sky and quickly had the very first spectrum of the spectacular event they were also
able to determine that the red supergiant snf 2020 tlf's progenitor was roughly 10 times the mass of
the sun rafaela margouti associate professor of astronomy at uc berkeley said it's like watching
the ticking time bomb we've never confirmed such violent activity in a dying red super giant star
where we see it produce such a luminous emission then collapse and combust until now
direct detection of pre-supernova activity in a red supergiant star has never been observed
before in an ordinary type 2 supernova that's what when jacobs of galan said an nfc graduate research
fellow at uc berkeley uc santa cruz assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics ryan foley
leads the young supernova experiment transient survey which held vigil for the 130 days leading
up to the cataclysmic explosion we finally detected the death rows of this relatively
common type of stellar explosion said ryan foley this was only possible because of the
young supernova experiment which is able to detect subtle changes of very faint and distant stars
reinfolie also added when the data came off the telescope i saw the telltale signs
of a supernova ramming into some material thrown off the star shortly before explosion
previous data led astronomers to believe that red supergiants are somewhat calm before supernova
but sn 2020 tlf ejected massive amounts of material just before it exploded researchers
believe this indicates that some stars must undergo major changes in their internal structures
before exploding that lead to the tumultuous expulsion of gas so now astronomers know of
certain red flags such as the gaseous hiccups to look for in a soon dying red supergiant after
all the high level of radiated light attracted attention to the star initially and astronomers
monitor the supernova for another 300 days after the explosion models created by scientists suggest
that sudden flashes of neon and oxygen fusion could generate waves that blow off some of the
outer regions of the star a much more violent precursor to the end that was earlier believed
the observation will also allow further transient surveys like ysc to detect dime red
supergiants before their demise and enhance our understanding of these cataclysmic events further
astronomers now have direct information on what to look for when a red giant is dying
as well as knowing that detection of red flags evaded earlier surveys using this knowledge will
enable finding more stars knocking on death's door and even better chances to study their demise and
with this new understanding of what to look for we can imagine what the implementation of the
james webb space telescope and nancy grace roman space telescopes will allow astronomers to see
however concerning the closest and brightest star in the heavens namely our sun no one
wants to see this phenomenon anytime soon but like death and taxes we know it's coming
the good news at least initially is that the sun is a middle-aged star with roughly 5 billion years
left before it finishes burning through its core hydrogen becoming a red giant and swallows both
mercury and venus astronomers say solar winds will escalate to the point where they stamp out earth's
magnetic field and strip our atmosphere away so exactly how's that good news yes
it is 5 billion years down the road but according to a 2014 study our descendants will not be around
to worry about the atmosphere blowing away anyway long before our protective layer goes sailing off
into the cosmos and makes sunblock irrelevant the earth will transition to a venus-like climate and
that's the swan song for life here the sun is increasing in brightness by one percent roughly
every 110 million years using 3d modeling of the effects of that change results in a
rough estimate of 1.5 billion years before we reach catastrophic thermal runaway conditions
now researchers also say that the tipping point may be well before this 1.5 million
year catastrophe with the gradual increase in thermal energy causing a moist greenhouse
runaway that sends the oceans bleeding off into space okay maybe it wasn't good news after all
so what do you think about humanity's first real-time look at a red giant's demise
will life on earth survive long enough to see that happen here
tell us in the comments and as always thank you for watching Factnomenal