Scientist: Planet Earth Will Get a Second Sun (Possibly in 2012)

And with it will come rain consisting of tiny particles called nuetrinos that will pass through our bodies. Gold and silver will also fall from the sky. For real!

The second biggest star in the universe is losing mass, a typical indication that a gravitation collapse is occurring.

When that happens, we'll get our second sun, according to Dr Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland.

The star Betelgeuse “is running out of fuel in its centre”, Dr Carter says.

He explains what this will mean:

This fuel keeps Betelgeuse shining and supported. When this fuel runs out the star will literally collapse in upon itself and it will do so very quickly.

It goes bang, it explodes, it lights up - we’ll have incredible brightness for a brief period of time for a couple of weeks and then over the coming months it begins to fade and then eventually it will be very hard to see [the star] at all.

When a star goes bang, the first we will observe of it is a rain of tiny particles called nuetrinos.

They will flood through the Earth and bizarrely enough, even though the supernova we see visually will light up the night sky, 99 per cent of the energy in the supernova is released in these particles that will come through our bodies and through the Earth with absolutely no harm whatsoever.

It also may have an impact on gold and silver investments:

It literally makes things like gold, silver - all the heavy elements - even things like uranium….a star like Betelgeuse is instantly forming for us all sorts of heavy elements and atoms that our own Earth and our own bodies have from long past supernovi

So get ready, timing is a little tough, but Dr. Carter estimates it could happen as early as 2012, or a million years from now.

(ViaEdHarrison)