Discover the Cosmos: Top 14 Fun Facts About the Spectacular Star Betelgeuse

1. Celestial Shoulder Pad

Orion's belt may be holding up the celestial pants, but Betelgeuse is the shoulder pad adding pizzazz to the cosmic ensemble: This eye-catching red supergiant star, located around 700 light years away from Earth, has an astoundingly large radius—up to 1,000 times that of the Sun—and has recently experienced a mysterious dimming that sparked rumors of a supernova, although it's now reluctantly decided to shine steadily again.
Source => star-facts.com

2. Cosmic Diva's Brightness Antics

Like a cosmic diva having a bad hair day, Betelgeuse keeps fluctuating its brightness just to mess with our heads: These baffling antics, although puzzling to scientists, remind us of the incredible universe we live in, and, if we're lucky enough to be around in a few tens of thousands of years, we might just score front-row seats to the star's supernova extravaganza!
Source => scientificamerican.com

Did you know stars change colors as they heat up and cool down, with red stars being cooler and blue stars being the hottest? Discover their unique life-cycles and how they strut their cosmic style on the color wheel!

=> Fun Facts about Stars

3. Betelgeuse's Star Spot Excuse

If Betelgeuse were an introvert, star spots would be its socially-acceptable excuse to stay at home: This Red Supergiant star has seen its brightness decline due to large star spots covering 50 to 70% of its surface, causing temperature variations and ruling out the previous theory of light-absorbing dust being responsible.
Source => phys.org

4. Hide and Shrink Space Prank

A cosmic game of "hide and go shrink": Betelgeuse has been sneakily hiding its true size and pulling a cosmic prank on us astronomers. This cheeky red giant star turns out to be both closer and smaller than originally thought. So, no worries about it devouring our solar system up to Jupiter: Turns out its stellar appetite only goes up to between 702 and 880 times the diameter of the Sun. But fear not, stargazers! Our flirtatious fireball won't blow its lid as a supernova for another spectacular 100,000 years, so get your popcorn ready and enjoy the celestial show.
Source => skyandtelescope.org

5. Supernova Party Countdown

Hold onto your space biscuits, because Betelgeuse is ready to party like it's 100,000 years from exploding: This mammoth star, nestled in the cosmic neighborhood just 500-600 light-years away from Earth, is gearing up to go supernova in a mind-bending display of celestial power, while majestically swaddled in its fabulous, asymmetrical envelope that's 250 times its own size.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

6. Starlet's Mass-shedding Saga

Betelgeuse has been shedding weight like a Hollywood starlet on a juice cleanse — only it's shedding masses the size of our own sun, and its runway debut will be as a supernova: In the past few thousand years, Betelgeuse has lost a significant amount of mass, possibly several solar masses, causing it to expand and become the red supergiant we know today, preparing for its grand finale as a supernova within the next 100,000 years.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

7. Moody, Colossal Heartthrob

If Betelgeuse wandered into a celestial speed dating event, it would surely be the young, moody, colossal heartthrob that everyone is secretly fascinated by: This attention-grabbing supergiant star is not only one of the largest stars known at 1,000 times the diameter of our sun, but also exhibits fluctuations in brightness, all while being merely a few million years old.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

8. My 900-Pound Solar Life

If Betelgeuse starred in an episode of "My 900-Pound Life," it would still be a massive understatement: Replacing our Sun with Betelgeuse would engulf all four inner planets of our Solar System, even consuming Jupiter, as it's approximately 900 times larger than the Sun in radius and holds over 700 million times its volume—making it one of the largest stars known to humankind.
Source => forbes.com

9. Galactic Party Host

If it threw a party, the guest list would be light years long: the ever-hospitable Betelgeuse is a massive red supergiant star, 530 light years away and weighing 20 times more than our Sun. Despite its size, its lifespan is just a few million years, currently burning through helium at a rapid galactic pace, with about 100,000 years left in its current phase. Don't feel blue, though; this celestial celeb recently threw some shade - literally - by ejecting material that dimmed its view from Earth!
Source => ocm.auburn.edu

10. Supernova Disco Ball

Once upon a night so luminous, it rivaled the shimmering disco ball at Studio 54: Betelgeuse's supernova won't actually be visible during the day from Earth, but it'll shine bright in the sky for several weeks and fade gradually like a one-hit wonder over the course of months.
Source => altairspaceacademy.com

11. Supermassive Attention Grabber

Ever wondered what heavenly body puts the "super" in supergiant, has got the girth to bust a move, and comes close to having a little supernova tantrum? Meet Betelgeuse: a star with a mass range of 16.5-19 times that of our own Sun, one of the most massive stars visible to the naked eye, and won't shy away from a spectular supernova explosion in the next 100,000 years.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

12. Explosive Mid-life Crisis

Betelgeuse may have missed the memo on aging gracefully, as it's quickly burning through its youth and entering an explosive mid-life crisis: This massive star, merely 8 to 8.5 million years old, has already used up its hydrogen supply, forcing it to fuse helium into heavier elements and expand into a red giant on its way to a supernova finale, ultimately sharing its raw ingredients with the universe to make new stars.
Source => star-facts.com

13. Cosmic Lint Roller Blues

Betelgeuse, the universe's ultimate cosmic lint, keeps shedding its stardust in every direction and is in desperate need for a celestial lint roller: This massive matter expulsion forms a blown nebula around the red supergiant that extends even beyond Neptune's orbit, making Betelgeuse the only star in the night sky with observed flaming emissions—a fiery drama queen, indeed.
Source => medium.com

14. Cosmic Candy Store

If Betelgeuse were a cosmically sized candy store, Jupiter would be a jawbreaker that fits right in its interstellar jar: In reality, Betelgeuse is so gargantuan with a diameter around 1,000 times that of the Sun, that its volume of 1.6 billion times our Sun could effortlessly accommodate the orbit of Jupiter.
Source => en.wikipedia.org