Images from Hubble showed how a large accumulation of matter left the visible surface of the star and the beginning
move through its atmosphere.The cloud was initially two to four times brighter than the star, but after about a month, Betelgeuse's southern hemisphere darkened. This was probably due to the release of matter. Andrea Dupre, Deputy Director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (USA)
Betelgeuse is one of the largestand bright stars in the sky. It is located in the constellation Orion. Its size and mass are 15-25 times greater than the sun. Because of this, as well as its short distance to Earth, Betelgeuse can be easily seen with the naked eye.
For comparison, if Betelgeuse were in the center of the solar system, its outer layers would reach the orbits of Mars or Jupiter.
Photo: NASA/STEREO/HI
At the same time, scientists claim that thisthe star is currently in the last stage of evolution. It almost completely exhausted its reserves of hydrogen, expanded and began to throw matter from its outer shells into space.
At this stage, the stars expand sharply andbegin to dump the material of the outer shells into open space. Because of this, a huge amount of dust appears in space and bright gas and dust nebulae are formed.
According to preliminary calculations, Betelgeuse will turn into a supernova within the next few thousand years. Residents of the Earth will be able to observe a giant explosion even during the day.