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Why is Betelgeuse red?

Updated: 7/5/2023
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14y ago

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Simply put. No it's not, Not in terms of Mass or Radii. While it's one of the largest stars in our neck of the woods(within 1000 lightyears around the sun) Before I go on let me give you some facts about Betelgeuse/Alpha Orionis . Betelgeuse is a M2I-a Supergiant/Hypergiant star. its around 600 light years away which is a recent finding as just a few years ago we thought the star was 540-560ly away. Betelgeuse Has a Solar Mass of 18 or 19 solar masses and a solar radii of 936. Now i can move on to some other stars that are much larger then Betelgeuse.

1. VY Canis Majoris- This star has a solar radii of a mind boggling 2100 solar radii that's over 2 times the size of betelguese

2. Eta Carina- This MASSIVE star tips the scales on how much mass a star can have at a whooping 150 solar masses. that's 7.8x heavier then betelgeuse

Look up the Quintuplet Cluster for more larger stars then betelgeuse cause we astronomers look at that particular cluster to observe how big stars can actually get, since its towards the galactic center and we believe that the galactic center favors larger objects.

Any how I hope i was some help.

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12y ago
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14y ago

If you mean the star, yes, there is a star called Betelgeuse. It is in the constellation of Orion.

If you mean the star, yes, there is a star called Betelgeuse. It is in the constellation of Orion.

If you mean the star, yes, there is a star called Betelgeuse. It is in the constellation of Orion.

If you mean the star, yes, there is a star called Betelgeuse. It is in the constellation of Orion.

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14y ago

No Betelguese was not always a red star.

Betelguese is a red supergiant, with a diameter of 936 times the sun and mass 16-18 times that of the sun. It is red because although it is a huge star it's surface temperature is only 3,500 K compared to the suns surface temperature of 5,778K.

It is nearing the end of it's life and has left the main sequence. When it was younger it would have been a very hot star indeed. A similar sized main sequence star such as Phi Orinis at 18 solar masses has a surface temperature of about 30,000K and is blue in appearance.

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14y ago

Betelgeuse is red because of it's temperature.

This color is because Betelgeuse is a red giant star that has used up it's hydrogen fuel so now the star is expanding as it cools and within a few million years will shed it's atmosphere and become a white dwarf star.

See related question for more information.

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13y ago

Betelguese is large enough to undergo a supernova explosion at the end of it's life. Whats left after that explosion could be a white dwarf, a neutron star, or even a black hole.

As large as Betelguese is, it's expected to create a black hole.

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13y ago

Yes, it is a "red giant" star. You can see it quite easily in the evening in this season (early winter in the northern hemisphere); it is the bright red star at the shoulder of Orion the Hunter.

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15y ago

In the Betelgeuse system. And that's a very good thing because we wouldn't really WANT it to be any closer!

Here's why. Betelgeuse is a super-giant star. Super-giant stars don't live very long, and they tend to explode in supernova explosions. When - not "if"! - Betelgeuse explodes, it will be as bright as the full moon in the sky.

When supernovae explode, they often send out intense beams of radiation along their axes of rotation. We're in luck; Betelgeuse doesn't appear to be aimed at US.

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13y ago

Yes, a very large, VERY bright one. The only reason it looks tiny is because it is 640 light-years away.

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12y ago

Betelgeuse is the name of the red giant star at the shoulder of the constellation Orion the Hunter.

Betelgeuse was also a fictional character in the movie of the same name.

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14y ago

If you mean the star, yes, there is a star called Betelgeuse. It is in the constellation of Orion.

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