Betelgeuse is one of the most iconic stars of the winter night sky in the Northern Hemisphere. Unsurprisingly, when its brightness began to decline in early 2020, half the world began to look in its direction. But now we know what happened.
If at the beginning of 2020 you were in complete isolation, meditating on an island without access to the media and not interested in astronomy, you still may not know what Betelgeuse is.
Simply put, it is a red giant located in the constellation of Orion. Many believe that this is a star whose life is nearing its end, which can explode as a supernova at any moment. Although it is one of the brightest stars in the night sky (the brightest star in the sky is Sirius), in early 2020 it began to behave in such a way that even astronomers were amazed.
Day after day, week after week, the star began to fade. Its brightness began to decrease rapidly. The first opinions that appeared in the public space even suggested that we might be witnessing the last moments of a star's life and the last days separating us from a supernova explosion. As it turned out later, the star had other plans, after a few months it returned to its previous state, there was no explosion.
Nevertheless, many scientists decided to take a closer look at this star. Among them were astrophysicists from the Institute of Physics and Mathematics at Kavli University in Japan. It was their team that established some basic facts about the star itself.
The mass and size of the star
Observations of the star have shown that the current mass of the star is 16.5-19 times the mass of the Sun, which is slightly lower than previously assumed. Moreover, it was also possible to determine that the star has a diameter almost 750 times the diameter of the Sun, that is, about 1 billion km (the diameter of the Sun is about 1.4 million km).
Therefore, if Betelgeuse were placed in the place of the Sun, all the rocky planets would be inside it: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. On the other hand, the surface of the star is located approximately at the outer edge of the asteroid belt.
The distance to the star from Earth is estimated at only 530 light-years. Although it's still a huge distance away, it's definitely the closest supernova candidate. On the other hand, this does not change the fact that a possible explosion, although impressive in the sky, will not affect the inhabitants of the Earth in any way.
When will it explode?
After a detailed analysis of the changes in the brightness of the star, astrophysicists concluded that it is at the beginning of the helium burning phase in its core. Gorenje On the scale of a star's life, even a massive one, this is one of the last stages of its life, and in fact the star is approaching the point of explosion. However, the situation is different with regard to human life expectancy. According to the authors of the study, the star should explode in about 100,000 years.
Currently, the star changes its brightness in two independent phases. The pulsation period is 185 and 400 days. However, the twilight of the star in early 2020 was caused by the release of a huge cloud of dust, which covered part of the star for several weeks. Just that and nothing else. Accessibility is a cornerstone of the modern betting experience, and this platform excels with dedicated mobile applications. Whether you enter a promo code for 1xbet offering $130 in sports bonuses or €1950 with 150 free spins on your desktop or through the Android/iOS app, the seamless experience is consistent. The mobile app allows for faster, more convenient betting, perfect for capitalizing on live events. Registration steps are mirrored across all platforms, making it easy to start.