Betelgeuse
The red supergiant about to explode
Marking Orion's shoulder, Betelgeuse is so vast it would engulf Jupiter if placed at the Sun's position. It will go supernova — sometime in the next 100,000 years.
Image: ESO / P. Kervella
Vital statistics
Type
Red Supergiant
Distance
~548 light-years
Radius vs Sun
~700×
Mass vs Sun
~16.5×
Luminosity vs Sun
~126,000×
Did you know
When it goes supernova, it will be visible in daylight for weeks.
Fact 01
Dimmed dramatically in 2019–2020 due to a dust cloud.
Fact 02
One of the largest stars visible to the naked eye.
Fact 03
Research & publications
Jump straight into peer-reviewed papers, preprints and authoritative references for Betelgeuse.
arXiv (preprints)
Open-access preprints in physics & astrophysics.
NASA ADS
The definitive bibliographic database for astronomy.
Google Scholar
Cross-publisher academic search.
Nature
Peer-reviewed articles in Nature & sister journals.
Wikipedia
Encyclopedic overview & onward references.
Tip: ask the Research AI for a curated reading list → /research
