Astronomers think that Betelgeuse is only 10 million years old, that's 50 times younger than our sun. Despite its relatively young age, Betelgeuse has already run out of the hydrogen fuel in its core and is now in the final, red giant stage of its life, fusing helium to carbon.
They are the largest stars in the universe because they puff up and expand out into space in their old age. At roughly 10 million years old, Betelgeuse is much younger than our nearly 5-billion-year-old Sun.
The answer has been: Maybe today. Maybe a thousand years from now. But, since 2019, there's been a noticeable uptick in the brightening and dimming of Betelgeuse. And a new paper – published this week (June 1, 2023) – suggests not thousands of years but “tens of years” as the timescale for Betelgeuse's going supernova.
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant around 500 to 600 lightyears from Earth and makes up the left shoulder of the constellation Orion. It is expected to go supernova at some point in the next 100,000 years.
While Betelgeuse's supernova is not expected to cause direct harm to life on Earth, it could potentially have some atmospheric effects. The explosion would release a burst of ultraviolet radiation, which could deplete the ozone layer temporarily.
Scientists Have An Update On Betelgeuse You Shouldn't Miss
Will I see a supernova in my lifetime?
Dr Stanimir Metchev also said that it was unlikely that it would happen in our lifetime. He said the last stages of a star's life can last hundreds of thousands of years.
Factors such as stellar mass, nuclear fuel consumption, and shock wave propagation influence the duration of such events. While estimates suggest that Betelgeuse's supernova could last anywhere from weeks to months, the precise timing remains elusive.
Now consider this: It's believed that Betelgeuse, a giant red star in the constellation Orion, is approaching the end of its life cycle. Most scientists believe it will become a supernova in the near future.
Betelgeuse is an enormous star. If we were to place it at the center of our solar system, it would extend all the way to Jupiter. The star's size, combined with its position in our galaxy, the Milky Way, allows astronomers to study Betelgeuse in better detail than most stars.
"After the carbon exhaustion, fusions of further heavier elements would occur in probably a few tens of years, and after that the central part would collapse and a supernova explosion would occur."
Less than 10 million years old, Betelgeuse has evolved rapidly because of its large mass and is expected to end its evolution with a supernova explosion, most likely within 100,000 years.
In Greek mythology, Betelgeuse was associated with the figure of Orion, a legendary hunter who was placed in the sky as a constellation. The star Betelgeuse marked Orion's left shoulder, and the constellation as a whole was depicted as a powerful and imposing figure.
Their main result is that Betelgeuse — a red supergiant located approximately 650 light-years away from Earth — was recorded with a color significantly different than today. Betelgeuse, the second brightest star in the constellation of Orion, was yellow-orange some 2,000 years ago.
Betelgeuse is the 10th brightest star in the night sky, making it easy for us to spot. Just like with Rigel, we want to look over towards Swampy Summit in the northwest.
Scientists are keeping a close eye on Betelgeuse, as this red giant is a dying star that is close to turning supernova. However, given the huge timescales in the life of stars, this last step may still take thousands of years.
The presence of iron-60 suggests that Earth was hit by supernova ejecta as recently as a few million years ago. Based on the threats posed by gamma-rays and cosmic rays, astronomers have already concluded that we are relatively safe; there are no nearby supernova candidates that can pose a threat to life on Earth.
Our sun isn't massive enough to trigger a stellar explosion, called a supernova, when it dies, and it will never become a black hole either. In order to create a supernova, a star needs about 10 times the mass of our sun.
Jupiter's perigee – or closest point to the Earth for 2023 – comes at 21 UTC (4 p.m. CDT) on November 1-2. That's when the distance between the Earth and Jupiter will be at its least for 2023.
What is the biggest star in the universe? The largest known star in the universe is UY Scuti. It has an estimated radius of 1.188 billion kilometers. If UY Scuti were the center of our solar system, its photosphere, or outer shell, would reach just past the orbit of Jupiter.
Betelgeuse is a so-called red supergiant, 887 times as large as our own sun. Its surface, like the sun's, resembles boiling oatmeal as blobs of gas rise, conveying heat and energy.
First, a team of researchers who had used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe Betelgeuse before, during and after the event reported that a massive ejection of hot material from the star's surface had created an obscuring cloud of dust that led to the apparent fading.
