Not only is it giant, glowing, spooky and always threatening to explode, the ‘monster’ Betelgeuse can also create illusions before the eyes of Earthlings.
Recent observations of Betelgeuse – the super-red “monster” star located in the constellation Orion – showed it spinning absurdly fast. But a new study from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA – Germany) shows that we may have encountered an illusion.
The surface of an object that has fascinated astronomers for more than 2,000 years may be boiling, new analysis shows.
Theo Live Science, Simulations from multiple images of Betelgeuse show signs of convection dominating the surface. Therefore, its surface can be like bubbling boiling water.
With a distance of 500-600 light years, this boiling has created an illusion that makes astronomers think it is spinning, orbiting absurdly fast compared to what such large objects can do. can do.
Astronomers have not yet fully explained this surface boiling, but it could be one of the signs of death.
With a diameter of more than 1 billion km, Betelgeuse is more than 1,000 times larger than our Sun and is one of the largest stars known.
It also attracts attention because it often suddenly hides and appears in the sky. Not to mention, observations from ancient times to the present show that this monster has changed color.
According to data from scientist Sima Qian (China) 2,100 years ago, Sam Xiu Tu – as the ancient Chinese called Betelgeuse – at that time had a bright yellow color, not red like another famous star, Betelgeuse. Tam Tu Nhi (Antares) in the constellation Scorpio.
100 years later, the Roman scholar Hyginus described Betelgeuse as orange-yellow like Saturn.
By the 16th century, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe described Betelgeuse at that time as redder than Antares. And today, it is a super red star.
This discoloration shows that Betelgeuse is entering the final stages of “red giant” status, which is the state of dying stars after losing energy.
Betelgeuse could explode at any time with enough light to brighten Earth’s night sky, before collapsing into a smaller object, possibly a neutron star, because it is a giant star.
Betelgeuse has startled astronomers many times because it suddenly went dark, making people think it was about to explode. However, it still exists, very red. The darkening could be just an illusion created by an object or gas and dust ejected by the star itself.
Combined with the mirage from the possibly boiling surface, Betelgeuse promises to continue to excite and perplex astronomers for a long time.