New mysterious gravitational waves are being detected. Are they coming from Betelgeuse and is it about to go supernova? This time we are discussing gravitational waves and the Betelgeuse mystery. 

You may have seen in the news a few years ago that scientists detected gravitational waves, which are fluctuations in Spacetime itself. It was believed that these waves were created when two neutron stars collided and merged. 

Nobel prizes were issued and the scientists celebrated. However, a new set of gravitational waves have puzzled scientists and they are wondering if there is a link with Betelgeuse which is mysteriously dimming.

These gravitational waves are lasting a much shorter time than the previous ones and at first, people thought it might be down to Betelgeuse, one of the stars in the Orion Constellation that has dimmed considerably in the last few months with people speculating that is might be about to ‘go supernova’ and explode. 

Other theories are that black holes which are colliding or eating neutron stars might be causing these signals and scientists helpfully create images like the ones in the video that allow us to visualise this. 

Shattering illusions

I hate to shatter your illusions, but nobody has directly imaged one of these neutron star collisions or any of the other exotic events that are supposed to be responsible for the gravitational waves that are being detected by LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory). 

They are simply making these inferences from the amount of energy that is given out. When you see images of neutron stars colliding, these movies are Computer Generated in much the same way as the special effects in Hollywood movies.

Neutron Stars colliding

So what is happening? Are neutron star collisions really responsible for gravitational waves or is something else going on? Is it Betelgeuse after all?

A familiar pattern

The clue is what happens in the aftermath of gravitational wave release, we see gamma-ray bursts and X-rays just as we do in any typical Black Hole Principle event. I asked a scientist directly what these were and he looked uncomfortable and said they were aftershocks. The key to this is whether or not you see fluctuations in radiation coming from the same point in space much later as we do in many other situations. 

This is because the radiation is not coming from an explosion or collision or any other one-off destructive event but is created by the breathing process of the Black Hole Principle. The sheer energy given out in these events is due to the fact that this process is bringing in energy from infinity! 

The Black Hole Principle

The process is tapping into what lies beyond the speed of light, beyond our normal perception and what we call dark energy and dark matter. This region actually makes up the majority of the universe. There is so much of of the universe that we humans just do not know! 

And this process breathes and fluctuates. So one minute an object in space will be bright and the next, dimmer. And the will seem completely arbitrary.

By understanding The Black Hole Principle, we can not only understand gravitational waves but the dimming of Betelgeuse as fluctuations in brightness, are to be expected.