Star Betelgeuse

The star Betelgeuse, also called α Orionis, can be seen as a star in the constellation of Orion. After the star Rigel it is the second brightest star in Orion and belongs to the ten brightest stars in the sky.

Facts about star Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is a clearly reddish shining giant star, which belongs to the class of the red supergiants. It radiates 60,000 times the luminosity of the sun and has about 20 times the mass of the sun. Betelgeuse has an apparent brightness of 0.3 mag and has a slightly cooler surface temperature due to its reddish color. Although Betelgeuse is 640 light years away from us, you can still see it in the sky. This is because its diameter is 622 times larger than that of the sun. So its huge surface is the reason why it can emit so much light.

Actuality of the luminosity of Betelgeuse

Between October 2019 and April 2020, the star Betelgeuse surprisingly experienced a marked decrease in luminosity of about 40% of its normal value. As a result, scientists discussed many scenarios, with many reports circulating that Betelgeuse was about to go into supernova. Now, however, it turned out that the change in brightness was caused by huge starspots. The star Betelgeuse is still being observed and studied.