Betelgeuse: Orion’s Swollen Red Armpit

     

Located in the constellation of Orion, this enormous star is approaching the end of its life.

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant with an estimated radius of as much as 8.9 AU. If we were to placed it in the center of our solar system, it would extend past the orbit of Jupiter.

Like all high mass stars of this type, Betelgeuse is burning its fuel very quickly and is expected to die any time in the next million years or so.

Betelgeuse is about 640 light years from Earth. If it exploded tomorrow, humanity would be unaware of it until the light from the explosion reached us 640 years from now.