The star Betelgeuse, which has been particularly closely observed this year, has a little more time until its final explosion and is also much closer to earth than expected. This is the conclusion reached by an international team of astronomers who have evaluated current observational data and several models of the striking star. The end of Betelgeuse in a gigantic supernova could therefore for another 100. 000 years keep waiting. In addition, it is only about 530 light years away and therefore almost 25 percent closer to us than expected.

No supernova in sight Betelgeuse is the shoulder star of the constellation Orion and is actually one of the brightest in the night sky. At the turn of the year, however, it had slipped significantly in this ranking and some astronomers had pointed out that it was a “red supergiant” that had reached the end of its star life. After that, there was some speculation about an imminent supernova, although this prognosis referred to astronomical periods. The team around Meridith Joyce from the Australian National University has now confirmed this. Since Betelgeuse is currently burning helium in its core, its end is not near at all: “We could still 100. 000 It takes years until an explosion occurs. ”

They have also determined that Betelgeuse is significantly smaller than previously assumed . So far it has been assumed that the star could be larger than Jupiter’s orbit around the sun. But that was too much, Joyce and her colleagues now explain in the specialist magazine The Astrophysical Journal . In truth, it is only two thirds of this value, the radius of the giant star is therefore 750 times as large as that of the sun. But that also means that Betelgeuse is closer to us than we thought. Instead of significantly more than 600 light years, the star is therefore only 530 light years away. Even so, its supernova would be a gigantic spectacle, but the explosion would have no significant consequences on earth.

During the exploration of the striking star continues, it has ended its mysterious re-blackout, which had once again attracted some attention this summer. Currently it is at sth