Easy to find and interesting. The amateur space buff's dream - Betelgeuse. Located in the constellation Orion (it's his left shoulder), it is the eighth brightest star in our night sky. Astronomers keep a close eye on this red super giant. Betelgeuse is massive enough that when it burns out, it will supernova. And that could happen soon.
Of course, soon in astronomical terms could mean millions of years. At 640 light years away, it would take us 640 years to find out when it does supernova. Recently, news sites blew up with the report that Betelgeuse was rapidly losing mass (one of the signs of an impending supernova) and that it could explode SOON. Like 2012 soon. If it did happen, these stories promised, we would have 2 suns for awhile, like some Star Wars shit.
However, Tatooine was located in a binary star system. Like if our sun had a best friend star right next door. Betelgeuse is 640 light years away and while scientists do say that it would be visible during the day time for some weeks should it supernova in our lifetime (still pretty awesome), it wouldn't be like having two suns.
Thankfully, Discovery Science
has done some debunking...........
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