2023-07-06 20:42:26
Many scientists have a chance before the red supergiant Betelgeuse erupts as a supernova. This could happen in several decades.
Here’s what we know
The star is located in the constellation of Orion, just 650 light-years from Earth, which is very close to the Universe. Betelgeuse belongs to spectral class O. It is about to enter a supernova, but the timing depends on many factors. One of them is age. However, scientists still do not agree on the age of the red giant.
Astronomers have been carefully observing Betelgeuse for four years. The star has come under special scrutiny following a sudden dip in its brightness. The event even got its own name, the “Great Dimming”.
Betelgeuse is a relatively small star of spectral type O. It is supposed to explode as a supernova in tens of thousands of years, but it could happen much sooner. New data suggests that the red giant could be much more massive than commonly thought and that it will take 30 to 50 years before it explodes as a supernova.
The luminosity of Betelgeuse varies in two periods of 420 and 2200 days. This means that the radius of the star can be 800 to 900 and 1300 times that of the Sun. The red giant should therefore enter a supernova after 2050.
Source : Science Alert : Science Alert
Image : Ciriosmos
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