Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is a bright red supergiant in the Orion constellation located between 400-650 light-years away. With an average apparent magnitude of +0.4, it is previously the 9th brightest star in the night sky.

Astronomers projected Betelgeuse to explode someday as a type II supernova, a phenomenon in which highly massive stars can no longer fuse elements in the core, resulting in gravity taking over, collapsing the star and eventually rebounds in a powerful explosion. It could reach a brightness of about magnitude -11, as Bright as the Moon on a typical night and can be seen in broad daylight once it explodes. Sadly, we will not expect to have that happening in the next 100,000 years or so.

Taken from @alsadeem.observatory last August 28, 2019, with GSO RC8 telescope and Canon EOS 1D Mark IV DSLR camera.

Other parameters:
Age: Approx. 8-10 million years old
Temperature: 3590 K
Radius: Between 885-960 x solar radius
Mass: 11.6 times the solar mass

Al Sadeem Astronomy Observatory has been monitoring this star continuously after its significant dimming back December 2019. Check out our observations in the AAVSO database (code: OAAA).

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