Stars · Star in Orion
Star
Betelgeuse
Orion’s shoulder: a red supergiant so vast it would swallow Mars’s orbit. One day, perhaps in the next 100,000 years, it will explode.
- Constellation
- Orion
- Designation
- α Orionis
- Apparent magnitude
- 0.45 · 10th brightest star in the night sky
- Spectral class
- M2Ib
- Distance
- 498 light-years
- Position (J2000)
- RA 5h 55m · Dec +7° 24′
A red supergiant, around 3,400 K, like Antares. About 260× brighter than the faintest star the eye can see. The light you are seeing left around 1528.
History
The name is a medieval misreading of the Arabic yad al-jawzā’, “the hand of al-Jawzā’” — the giant figure the Arabs saw here.
Discovery
In late 2019 it faded to less than half its usual brightness. The Great Dimming turned out to be a cloud of dust it had burped out, hiding its face.
Did you know
When it goes supernova it will shine about as bright as a half Moon for weeks — visible in daylight — and fade over a year. Earth is far enough away to be quite safe.