Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star of spectral type M1-2 and one of the largest visible to the naked eye. It is usually the tenth-brightest star in the night sky and, after Rigel, the second-brightest in the constellation of Orion. It is a distinctly reddish, semiregular variable star whose apparent magnitude, varying between +0.0 and +1.6, has the widest range displayed by any first-magnitude star. At near-infrared wavelengths, Betelgeuse is the brightest star in the night sky. Its Bayer designation is α Orionis, Latinised to Alpha Orionis and abbreviated Alpha Ori or α Ori.
About Betelgeuse:
- Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star that forms the left shoulder of the constellation of Orion.
- It is one of the brightest stars in the night sky and one of the largest stars ever discovered.
- The star is approximately 650 light-years from Earth.
- It is one of the largest known stars, measuring more than 700 million miles (1.2 billion kilometres) in diameter, 764 times as large as the Sun.
- It is known for its periodic dimming and brightening up.
Read also:- Formation of Planets
What is a Supernova?
- A supernova is the name given to the cataclysmic explosion of a massive star.
- They are the largest explosion that takes place in space.
- A star can go supernova in one of two ways:
- Type I supernova: Star accumulates matter from a nearby neighbour until a runaway nuclear reaction ignites.
- Type II supernova: Star runs out of nuclear fuel and collapses under its own gravity.
- It can emit more energy in a few seconds than our sun will radiate in its lifetime of billions of years.
- They’re also the primary source of heavy elements in the universe.
- On average, a supernova will occur once every 50 years in a galaxy the size of the Milky Way.
Read also:- Star Formation
