Re: Hubble pinpoints red supergiant that exploded Forwarded

[Jonathan Silverlight]

In message <llu0acg1z2.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Joseph Lazio 
<jlazio@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
> > > > > > "JS" == Jonathan Silverlight 
> > > > > > <jsilverlight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
> > > Hubble pinpoints red supergiant that exploded
>
> JS> Does anyone know what changes occur in such a star before it
> JS> explodes?
>
> Depends in how much detail you want to know. :)
>
> You might want to take a look at Heger et al. (<URL:
> http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2003ApJ...591..288H
> > ), which describes some of these issues and has references as well.
> (Note that there is both a journal article and an astro-ph e-print.)
>
> JS> For instance, how much notice will we get that Betelgeuse is about
> JS> to explode?  Is it changing now?? :-)
>
> For Betelgeuse in particular, a quick search of the astronomy
> literature finds little discussing its possible future evolution.
> There's an abstract by Mathews et al. (<URL:
> http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1998AAS...192.6703M
> > ), but I find no indication that this work was ever published in any
> more detail.

That's going back a while :-) Thanks Dr. Lazio.
It occurs to me that Betelgeuse is well placed now, and would probably 
be visible in daylight if it exploded, but could we have missed a 
supernova a few degrees from the Sun in the past?
Today it would be seen by SOHO and many other satellites.