It’s the left shoulder of Orion. It’s traditionally the 11th brightest star in the sky. It’s known to be a behemoth, weighing in around at least eight solar masses (possibly more), and it has a radius that puts it at least 900 times larger than our Sun. Betelguese is much younger than our own star, but its nearing the end of its life, owing to its much higher mass, and this is making the star behave… Shall we say, badly?
It’s dropped in brightness considerably, and its shape is changing. The romantic notion is that it’s about to blow, but more realistically, this is the coincidental link-up of two cycles of dimming and brightening that the star undergoes. It would be truly amazing to witness a supernova, especially one that would almost certainly dazzle the night sky, but the fact is, Betelguese probably has a hundred thousand years left to run. Still, you never know…
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