Whenever I read things of science, I get all wiggly inside. Sort of nervous, and a bit overwhelmed, all at the same time.
There are things going on everywhere, all the time. This earth is a very, very, very busy place it seems. Not to mention the Universe.
Imagine that I should get so caught up in my little comings and goings, when in the big picture of things, it is a mere molecule, in the tiniest droplet, in the little bucket, of the ocean. Almost.
Regardless, the story I learned of today was of our neighbor star, Betelgeuse. Now, I am not the smartest when it comes to things of deep space. In fact, I did not know there was a star by this name.
Apparently…. Red Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star and one of the best-known of the bright stars in Earth’s sky. Now I know.
My only brush with Betelgeuse, up until this point… is that nifty little movie from 1988. Beetlejuice… with Geena Davis, and Alec Baldwin… and Michael Keaton. I liked that goofy movie.
Anyway… our star Betelgeuse might potentially explode someday. And…. now…. a team at the University of Texas at Austin has found out something else interesting about Betelgeuse.
It is going way faster than what they thought before. This supergiant star is spinning on its axis about 150 times faster than expected.
They think it may have eaten its companion star. I’m not kidding. Betelgeuse swallowed that thing whole. That’s a pretty big feat. Eating an entire star. Even I know that. And that MIGHT be the cause of the speed up. Right now… I am betting you can barely contain yourself.
There are two things to point out here.
- The Universe is incredibly full and teaming with activities that you and I will never be able to comprehend with our little human brains.
- Because, we are limited in our scope of comprehension…. when we hear a story such as this… it begs the question…..
Does anyone really gives a sh!t?
Oh… of course we do. A little. Maybe.
Especially if Betelgeuse explodes and sends gargantuan-sized meteors hurling through space…. toward a sudden-death-impact with earth.
Then, we might give a sh!t. A little one.
But whatever you do in this case… just don’t say the name three times in row. Betelgeuse… Betelgeuse… Be….