Moon and Antares

StarDate

Antares is a big loser. The star has lost enough gas to make one or more stars as massive as the Sun. And it’s destined to lose a lot more. It’ll explode as a supernova, blasting its outer layers into space. That could expel enough material to make 10 Suns or more.

Antares is a supergiant – one of the bigger, brighter stars in the entire Milky Way Galaxy. If it took the Sun’s place in our own solar system, it would gobble up the four innermost planets – including Earth.

The star is so big because it’s heavy – probably a dozen times the mass of the Sun or more. That makes its core extremely hot. Radiation from the core pushes on the surrounding layers, inflating the star. And much of the gas at its surface just keeps on expanding – it escapes from Antares and flows out into space.

Even though Antares is less than one percent the age of the Sun, its time is about up. Within the next million years or so, the nuclear reactions in its core will shut down. The core will collapse, while its outer layers explode. The core probably will become a neutron star – a super-dense ball only a few miles across. But it’s possible that it could collapse even more – becoming a black hole. More about that tomorrow.

Look for Antares near the Moon the next couple of evenings. Tonight, it’s close to the upper left of the Moon at nightfall. It’ll be about the same distance to the right of the Moon tomorrow night.

Script by Damond Benningfield