Betelgeuse – The Celebrity Star, which is Closer and Smaller than we thought

Betelgeuse: Closer to Earth

Are you having a sensation that is a bit creepy of something breathing below your neck? It might be Betelgeuse which is also known as the Alpha Orionis. It has been a topic of an exciting subject of what was the reason of its mysterious dimming in the early part of the year. There is a quiet certainty that the star is much closer to Earth than expected.

When Betelgeuse is compared with the sun, it is quite monstrous and a red supergiant star. Some new calculations were unveiled of the star’s distance and mass in a study published in The Astrophysical Journal giving an estimate for when will the date of its stage supernova is achieved.

Betelgeuse: 2019 Explosion Theory

In late 2019, the Betelgeuse exploding went around speculations that were on higher grounds of interest as when the star went through some odd dimming and brightening episodes. It was believed that the cause of the event was a dust cloud according to the scientists. On Friday Meridith Joyce, lead author in a statement from The Australian National University said that this second similar event was observed due to the pulsation of the star.

Shing-Chi Leung of the University of Tokyo, who is also the co-author, described the work of the science team using modeling to sort out what was going with the pulsations as a pressure wave which could be sound waves. This modeling of star activity boosted the work of researchers to figure out the life cycle of a star where it existed.

100,000 Years More for Supernova

But the point of relief is that there is no such danger of Betelgeuse going supernova anytime sooner. The scientists suggested that the supernova of the star will actually take about 100,000 years, so sit back and relax.

The knowledge about the star size is also in question as this star is just monstrous. Another co-author, Laszlo Molnar of the Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, said that it has been a mystery for scientists about the actual physical size of Betelgeuse.

It was believed that the size of the star was approximately equal to the orbit of Jupiter but the result threw light that Betelgeuse only extends to two/thirds of the orbit and the radius of the star is 750 times the radius of the sun.

More Accurate Calculation

This time the team was able to project accurate calculation with a good shot at Betelgeuse’s size along with an accurate calculation of the distance between star and Earth i.e. placed around 530 light-years away. This new calculation places the star 25% closer to Earth in comparison to previous calculations known to the scientists.

And for the guys thinking will its explosion affect Earth, it is quite far enough that Earth won’t be at harm by a future explosion.

Joyce showed excitement as he said that although it’s not a quite big deal of supernova going off it is the closest candidate that could help with a chance to study what happens to stars like this before they explode.