295
1.4k share, 295 points

Here’s What Really Happened To Betelgeuse Star

Besides being the host system of the planet in which Ford Prefect lived, according to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the galaxy, it is the second brightest star in the Orion Constellation, after Rigel.

Also, together with Sirius and Procyon, it is one of the vertices of the asterism of the famous “Winter Triangle”. Of course, Betelgeuse! Can you guess who are we talking about? Of course, Betelgeuse!

I bet you’ve heard a lot of people talking about it in the last few months.  In the latest months, astronomers were worried about Betelgeuse’s behaviour. Someone said its destiny was uncertain.  But why? What actually happened to this beautiful star?

Betelgeuse is a big big star, belonging to the red supergiant spectral class.
Its distance from the Earth is about 600 light-years away.
And it is always there for us. If you go out and look for the Orion constellation, you will notice Rigel, and then Betelgeuse: they’re the brightest ones.

We know stars evolve.
For example, we know our Sun was born 4.6 billion years ago, and it is currently a main-sequence star. It will remain so for another 4-5 billion years.
Then, it will expand, cool and become a red giant.
After that, it will shrink and heat up again, to become a white dwarf. The white dwarf will then be destined to cool down over billions of years.

These are what we know about our Sun.
What about Betelgeuse?

Do not forget to share your opinion with us to provide you with the best posts !


Like it? Share with your friends!

295
1.4k share, 295 points

What's Your Reaction?

Dislike Dislike
1486
Dislike
love love
893
love
omg omg
297
omg
scary scary
2973
scary
wtf wtf
2081
wtf

0 Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *