A plume on Betelgeuse (artist’s impression with annotations)

This artist’s impression shows the supergiant star Betelgeuse as it was revealed thanks to different state-of-the-art techniques on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, which allowed two independent teams of astronomers to obtain the sharpest ever views of the supergiant star Betelgeuse. They show that the star has a vast plume of gas almost as large as our Solar System and a gigantic bubble boiling on its surface. These discoveries provide important clues to help explain how these mammoths shed material at such a tremendous rate. The scale in units of the radius of Betelgeuse as well as a comparison with the Solar System is also provided.

Credit:

ESO/L. Calçada

About the Image

Id:eso0927d
Type:Artwork
Release date:29 July 2009
Related releases:eso2003, eso0927
Size:2662 x 4000 px

About the Object

Name:Betelgeuse
Type:Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Red Supergiant
Category:Illustrations
Stars

Image Formats

Large JPEG
1.8 MB
Screensize JPEG
400.4 KB

Zoomable


Wallpapers

1024x768
256.3 KB
1280x1024
386.0 KB
1600x1200
498.8 KB
1920x1200
523.6 KB
2048x1536
692.4 KB