Apparently it’s not only scientifically plausible, but also very possible and likely. At least the part about the second “sun”.
According to Dr.Brad Carter Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, Betelgeuse, the second most massive star in our galaxy, is losing mass and is nice and ripe to go supernova.
When a star goes supernova, it causes a relatively brief burst of light that often outshines other stars in the proximity, or sometimes even entire galaxies. When I say relatively brief, I mean that on the universal scale, a month is quite brief.
Dr.Carter’s prediction, if accurate, is set to take place sometime in the very near future, maybe as early as 2012 and although not dangerous for us since Betelgeuse is approximately 1300 light years away, it would destroy all life on any planet actually orbiting Betelgeuse. Technically, because of our distance to Betelgeuse, this may already have happened as objects that are so very far away, are seen by us like they were in the past (1300 years ago in this case.)
Thing is, according to the infamous Mayan calendar, the end of the world is predicted for 2012. Could the Mayans have come from a planet orbiting Betelgeuse? If so, it would mean everyone has been right; The insane doom-sayers that plead the Mayan cause, and normal people that are sane (everyone else), who do not.
Still, for a month or so, sometime really soon, we might wind up looking like our friend Mark Hamill above, only without the pajamas and possibly, for most of us, with better acting skills.
