The "right shoulder" in the constellation Orion (or left shoulder, as seen from Earth), Betelgeuse (or Alpha Orionis) is one of the brightest stars in the night sky and one of the largest stars ever discovered. But there is more to this ultra-bright stellar monster than meets the eye.
Once you've found Orion's Belt, it's easy to star-hop to Betelgeuse. If you look a short way above the top left of the Belt stars, your gaze will settle upon a particularly bright and reddish star. This is Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is the main star of Orion, which is why its technical designation is Alpha Orionis.
Betelgeuse is easily discernible to even the casual observer, not only because of its brightness and position in the brilliant Orion but also because of its deep reddish colour. The star is approximately 548 light-years from Earth. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star roughly 764 times as large as the Sun.
Either way, it seems likely that Betelgeuse will be the Milky Way galaxy's next supernova but this wouldn't happen anytime soon. It could even be another 100,000 years before Betelgeuse's light is finally extinguished.
At mid-northern latitudes, around the first of every year, Betelgeuse rises around sunset. The star is prominent on January and February evenings. By the beginning of March, this star is due south in early evening. By mid-May, it is briefly visible in the west after sunset.
If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, then you will see Betelgeuse rising in the east just after sunset during the earlier part of January. However, during the months either side of this time period – namely mid-September through to mid- March, Betelgeuse is visible to virtually everyone, all around the globe.
While it is challenging to accurately determine the exact year when Betelgeuse will go supernova, astronomers have made predictions based on observations and scientific models. As of the latest research, it is believed that the supernova event could occur within the next 100,000 years.
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.
Although some hype up Betelgeuse's looming doom, its coming explosion, called a supernova, might not happen for at least tens of thousands of years, if not more like some 100,000.
The star's name has its origins in Arabic, and there's no consensus on whether the 'g' is hard or not in the Westernised version. But a common way of pronouncing it is like the 1988 filmBeetlejuice. You can see Betelgeuse with the naked eye.
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.
Betelgeuse is one of the luminaries of the constellation Orion, marking the upper left corner of the parallelogram of stars encompassing the famed stellar trio of "Orion's Belt". You can see Orion in the south on February evenings. The eighth brightest star in the night sky, Betelgeuse appears red-orange.
As a result of its distinctive orange-red color and position within Orion, Betelgeuse is easy to find with the naked eye. It is one of three stars that make up the Winter Triangle asterism, and it marks the center of the Winter Hexagon.
What would Betelgeuse supernova look like in the sky?
Life on Earth will be unharmed. But that doesn't mean it will go unnoticed. Goldberg and Bauer found that when Betelgeuse explodes, it will shine as bright as the half-Moon — nine times fainter than the full Moon — for more than three months. “All this brightness would be concentrated into one point,” Howell says.
What would the sky look like if Betelgeuse went supernova?
If Betelgeuse were to go supernova, it would likely be visible from Earth as an incredibly bright celestial event. The explosion could potentially rival the brightness of a full moon and provide a captivating spectacle in the night sky.
This fiery demise is what astronomers call a supernova explosion, and in the case of Betelgeuse, it will be a spectacular sight for observers on Earth. Since the star is only 650 light-years from Earth, those layers of gas and dust will shine as bright as the full moon in our sky for several weeks.
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.
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.
Supernovas are created during the last moments of a star's life. These gigantic explosions can wipe out galaxies and the planets inside them. Should we be concerned about one being too close to our Solar System?
The star is around 500 light years away. Following an explosion, we first would detect a rain of massless particles called neutrinos, which would be harmless to us. After that, the star would quickly brighten. After one or two weeks it would shine with about the same brightness as the full Moon.
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.
