Red giant star Betelgeuse mysteriously shrinking

It looks like a catastrophic explosion in the latest sci-fi action thriller but this awe-inspiring image is actually based on the latest state-of-the-art space imaging.

The artist’s impression, inspired by the sharpest ever views of the supergiant star Betelgeuse, reveals an enormous plume of gas almost as big as our own Solar System blasting outwards.

The discoveries, revealed by the latest techniques on the European Space Agency’s Very Large Telescope, could help unravel why the mammoth plasma ball spews out material at such an incredible speed.

Almost 1,000 times larger than our sun, Betelgeuse is the second largest star in the constellation of Orion and one of the biggest stars known to man.

The red supergiant is also one of the most luminous stars, emitting 100,000 times more light than the Sun.

For decades, astronomers have struggled to explain how the mysterious red supergiants expel such vast amounts of material. They can shed the mass of the Sun in just 10,000 years.

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When a star is born, it is bluish and extremely hot because of how stars always first burn off heavier metals and other elements first. Later on in life they primarily burn hydrogen and helium (like our sun, which produces the sun's very distinct yellowish/orange color) along with smaller amounts of other elements.

You are correct, but stars usually start out with Hydrogen which is then fused into progressively heavier elements. Exellent post, by the way.

The red supergiant is also one of the most luminous stars, emitting 100,000 times more light than the Sun.

That's nothing.

Cygnus OB2-12 is over 6 million times brighter than the Sun, or 60 times as bright as Betelgeuse. Surface temperature is over 18,000 degrees celcius, emitting a distinctive blue light - a young, very large large star, burning lighter elements = one hell of a light show. It's 7 times as bright as the largest star yet discovered.

LBV 1806-20 could be 6 times brighter than Cygnus OB2-12, but is somewhat debated, 30,000–49,000 light-years away makes measuring hard.

[edit on 4/8/2009 by C0bzz]

Just thought I'd post this video to show everyone who has not seen it, the sort of scale we are talking about. Enjoy.

www.youtube.com...

Distance wise if the largest star we know was compared to the size of a London Double Decker bus, then our own sun would barely be 1mm in comparison.