Betelgeuse . Alpha Orionis. It is the 10th brightest star in the night sky, with a stellar magnitude of +0.60.
Summary
1 Origin of the name
1.1 Location
1.2 Mythology
1.3 Feature
1.4 Future of Betelgeuse
1.5 News
2 Sources
Name’s origin
At the time of the Renaissance it was speculated that the original name would have been “Bait al-Jauza”, whose meaning was intended to be in Arabic “Hombro de Jauza”.
Location
Betelgeuse is located in the Constellation of Orion , the most striking constellation in the winter night sky, visible from the entire northern hemisphere and much of the southern hemisphere. It stands out to the naked eye as the brightest red star in the sky.
Mythology
It is identified with the right shoulder of the mythological hunter Orion.
Characteristic
Beautiful red supergiant, which would reach its maximum size beyond the orbit of Mars , if situáramos in place of the sun . Its size is the reason why its brightness is so high, as it has a relatively low surface temperature. Despite being Orion’s alpha star, it is not the brightest of the constellation in visible light, but Rigel (Orion beta), but in red and near-infrared light, Betelgeuse is the brightest. It is estimated to be 430 light-years away from the Solar System .
It was the first star whose diameter could be accurately measured using interferometric techniques, this being variable and oscillating between 290 and 480 million kilometers. At its maximum size the star would extend beyond the orbit of Mars. Its mass is 20 times the mass of the Sun and its size is 40 million times greater. Astrophysicists predict that Betelgeuse will explode as a type II supernova at the end of its life. Some of them claim, based on the variability shown by the star, that such an explosion could occur in a very near time (in the next thousands of years). Other astrophysicists are more conservative and think that it could continue its current activity for a much longer period.
Recent studies show that, during the last fifteen years, the diameter of Betelgeuse has shrunk by 15%, the reasons for this phenomenon being unknown. Others show that it has a somewhat oval shape.
The Betelgeuse disk has been solved using the VLT telescope, showing the best image of the star to date. Betelgeuse is surrounded by a complex-looking nebula made up of silicates and dust ejected by the star in stellar eruptions and convection in its atmosphere, extending up to a distance of 400 astronomical units. Betelgeuse, finally, is a runaway star that has been kicked out of the Orion OB1 stellar association.
Future of Betelgeuse
Astronomers predict that Betelgeuse will eventually become a Type II supernova, although its mass may be low enough to leave behind a rare oxygen-neon white dwarf, not a neutron star. Opinions are divided about the time it will take for this event to occur: although Betelgeuse is approximately 10 million years old, but due to its great mass it has evolved rapidly, some point out that the current variability of the star would indicate that it is in the phase burning carbon in its life cycle and will therefore explode at some point in the next 1000 years. Skeptics disagree with this estimate and believe that the star could survive much longer, around 10,000 years. The event will be, in any case, spectacular although it is not clear if it will have important effects on life on the planet, as Betelgeuse is close to the distance limit at which cosmic rays can significantly affect the ozone layer. At that time, Betelgeuse would be at least 10,000 times brighter than an ordinary supernova, with the Moon’s first quarter luminosity.
Some sources predict a maximum apparent magnitude at the full Moon, lasting several months. It would be an extremely bright point in the sky, and can be seen even during the day. After this period, it would gradually die out until, after months or perhaps years, it was invisible to the naked eye. Orion’s right shoulder will disappear until, after a few centuries, a splendid nebula will develop there.
Notably, in 1980, a team of archaeologists discovered Chinese reports from the 1st century referring to the color of Betelgeuse as white or yellow. However, Ptolemy, in a writing of the year 150, classifies it as a red star (although he also classifies Sirius as red, despite the fact that it is white). Therefore, Fang Lizhi, a Chinese astrophysicist, proposes that Betelgeuse could have become a red giant during that period. Stars are known to change color by expelling a surface layer of dust and gas (a layer that can even now be seen moving away from Betelgeuse). Thus, if this theory is true, it is unlikely that Betelgeuse will go supernova anytime soon, as a star usually remains a red giant for tens of thousands of years.
What’s new?
Brad Carter, Professor of Physics at the University of South Queensland in Australia , was one of the experts who predicted this shocking fact: “when it explodes, it will shine so brightly that it will appear that there are two suns in the sky,” he had pointed out.
Philip Goode, an expert at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, in the United States, debunked the version by stating that the outbreak of the supernova could take place, but clarified that the brightness will not form another star in the sky. For his part, the American astronomer, Phil Plait, who works for Discovery, pointed out that there is no reason to believe that the explosion will occur next year, as Carter had predicted.
The scientist agreed with his Australian colleague that the blast will not harm the Earth, since Betelgeuse is 640 light years from the globe. “For consequences to be generated in the Earth’s crust, the star would have to be 25 light years away.”
