I first became aware of the impending death of the star Betelgeuse in this xkcd comic a few days ago. Orion will lose his shoulder! Betelgeuse is one of the brightest stars in the sky, a red supergiant 640 light years away. This star is 700,000,000 times our sun’s volume, and if it were here, it would fill our solar system. Over the past few years, Betelgeuse has brightened and dimmed (or "faintened," a word new to me) considerably. That means it is getting ready to collapse and explode, lighting up our sky to a superlative degree.
When it happens, Betelgeuse will go supernova, and become brighter than a full moon over the course of about ten days. It will stand out among other stars for many months. When will this happen? It could be soon, or anytime in the next 100,000 years. We will know when it happens, because astronomers will detect neutrinos before the light show begins. Or when it has already happened sometime in the last 640 years. Read what is going to happen to Betelgeuse in more detail at Big Think.
(Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada)
