Space & astronomy · the experiment
Identify Betelgeuse's victim
Siwarha, Betelgeuse's companion, should end up swallowed. Trigger its plunge, then work out a swallowed star's mass from its flash.
1 · Make Siwarha plunge
Tides have shrunk Siwarha's orbit, and Betelgeuse has swollen until it engulfs it. Launch the final plunge.
2 · A late flash
Beginner
The companion is torn apart near the core. Why does the flash appear only about 28 days later?
3 · Time the shock
The shock starts a few solar radii from the centre and reaches the surface, about 820 solar radii out, in about 28 days. One solar radius is about 696,000 km.
Intermediate
What is the shock's average speed?
4 · Weigh the victim
Expert
Another flash peaks twice as high. According to the article's law, what does it say about its companion?
Imagine we one day observe a flash whose peak reaches 4.5 × 10⁴¹ erg/s. Using the article's law, set the companion's mass until the predicted peak matches that flash.
5 · Step outside the model
The model ignores the gas and dust Betelgeuse has already shed around itself.
Expert
Running into that material, the real flash would rather be:
Victim identified
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