Betelgeuse star in the sky. Betelgeuse explosion. Facts about the red giant

Fixed star Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse(Beteigeuse, Adaher) - alpha of Orion, position 29 ° 27 ′ Gemini.

1st magnitude, red supergiant whose brightness varies in a semi-regular manner with a period of 6 years. One of the largest stars, inside which the orbit of Jupiter would fit. The star is more than 400 light-years away, and its luminosity is 14,000 times that of the sun.

Reference: Irregularly variable orange star on Orion's left shoulder. From Ibtul-Jawz, "Armpit of the Chief" (or "Giant"); according to Balinger - "The Arrival of the Branch".

Influence: According to Ptolemy, having the nature of Mars and Mercury, Al-Vidas speaks of the good aspect of Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter. Brings military glory, career advancement and wealth. In the corner houses, the horoscope promises good luck, success, sometimes even eternal glory. But with a bad configuration, it gives melancholy, failure, anger and accompanying misfortunes.

Culmination: outstanding military success, leadership, discoveries, insight, chances to improve in the arts and sciences. If at the same time in conjunction with the Sun, Moon or Jupiter - immeasurable happiness and the greatest honors.

In connection:

With Sun: gives the opportunity to achieve a high position in sports, legal or military spheres, public affairs. But there is always the danger of losing everything at once. Interests and abilities in the field of occultism and mysticism, acute illnesses, fevers; glorious, brilliant career ends in failure.

With Moon: forms an active mind and great determination, thanks to which it is possible to gain long-term popularity and happiness, high honors. But unexpected losses are not ruled out and there is the possibility of suffering as a result of any disagreements. Behind a restrained appearance lies a rebellious spirit, success in the military field, accompanied by conflicts with superiors, the opportunity to gain considerable influence, rewards and prosperity.

With Mercury: forms the seriousness of behavior, zeal, which allow you to prove yourself in the legal and financial sphere. There may be fame, good or bad, and there may be a tendency to self-destruction. Seriousness, curiosity, inclinations towards science and literature, low material wealth, fame in connection with literary work or for engravings on metal; good health, although adversity abounds.

With Venus: favors popularity, but there is a danger of domestic and family problems. You must be very careful not to become the cause of your troubles. Some shyness and restraint, an unusual gift for making elegant jewelry, prosperity; some grief associated with the family.

With Mars: caution, restraint; gives the ability of a leader, but also intolerance to any interference in your affairs, irascibility. Skillful leader and organizer; honors and high ranks in the military field. Possible threat of death from lightning, fire, explosion, firearms, etc.

With Jupiter: deep, inquisitive mind, dangerous and profitable occupations, honors in the church or in the legal field. Promotes public recognition of your achievements in sports, literary activity, social work.

With Saturn: cunning, resourcefulness, fraud; betrayal of friends; life is full of adventures, ups and downs, in the end comes wealth, but not luxury; unfavorable for family matters.

With Uranus: fast, productive and evil mind; crafty villain; an illustrious swindler and forger - however, he is rarely grabbed by the hand; outwardly - amiable manners; generosity, cordiality; the ability to hypnotize and read other people's minds.

With Neptune: insight, ability in the field of mechanics; perhaps the inventor of some unusual device; interest in spiritualism, serious illness or bodily suffering, mental illness; poor wealth, material success is possible only through a profitable partnership, favorable for marriage and children, strife with brothers and sisters; in adulthood comes a severe test.

Connection with ASC may indicate the threat of death from a lightning strike, fire, explosion, firearms, etc. (A. Aych)

Opinions of predecessors

Ptolemy states that the stars on the shoulders of Orion are like Mars and Mercury. Robson binds them with military honors. Ebertin speaks of luck, success and lasting fame. Rigor agrees with this and adds swiftness and volatility.

Betelgeuse: concept

Betelgeuse is one of the wonderful stars in the sky and its influence can bring great success without complications. It is on the right hand, in the armpit or on the shoulder of the god, in this regard, representing that which is clear and strong. Betelgeuse and her companion stars from this constellation are one of the signs in the chart to fame or success locally or globally: the person who is influenced by her will be productive, brilliant and lucky.

Because Betelgeuse is a very strong star, it is one of the few stars for which you can clearly see their expression change as they hit different corners of the chart.

Betelgeuse at Nadir

Any star in the nadir implies that its effect will not be obvious, as its influence will become apparent in old age or even after death. Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King had Betelgeuse in this position. Lincoln's Jupiter rose when this star was at the nadir, and although he was successful during his lifetime (because he has many good stars in the chart), Betelgeuse in this position speaks of the fame that increased after his death. Martin Luther King had Betelgeuse at nadir when the moon rose. He achieved success during his life, but only after his death did he become "immortal".

Rising Betelgeuse

The rising star expresses its energy at an early age. The expression of this energy can then continue if other stars support it. If Betelgeuse is in this position, success comes early, it may even indicate a young child prodigy. James Dean is a good example, because he had this star rising with Jupiter - he achieved meteoric fame as an actor before he died in a car accident.

For Marilyn Monroe, Betelgeuse rose when Mars culminated. With the connection of this star with Mars on the MC (as a person will be remembered), she achieved rapid and huge success, not so much for her game (it would be Venus), but as a sex symbol - an expression of Mars. She did not have to wait for posthumous fame or fame that comes in adulthood.

Culminating Betelgeuse

In this position, success comes in the middle of life and determines how a person will be remembered. In Charles Dickens, the Victorian novelist, Betelgeuse culminated with Jupiter. This is not the only combination with a fixed star in his chart, but it shows that he was to achieve great success and that his writings live on.

Setting Betelgeuse

In this position, the energy of the star is expressed at a later age. William Blake's sun set with this star. He was a remarkable poet and artist who, throughout his life, struggled to make ends meet by making engravings. His name won great respect only towards the end of his life and continues to be valued after death.

Thus, this star is associated with the ability to succeed and for the work of a person to continue to live. In this sense, Betelgeuse gives a person a chance of immortality. Not every person whose card contains Betelgeuse will achieve great fame, but it is an essential ingredient for the possibility of such fame. The person she influences can experience success without having to "submit to the dark journey of the soul".

Betelgeuse in the natal chart

A planet in contact with Betelgeuse will represent talents and abilities available that can be used for joy, success, or even glory. The relationship of Betelgeuse with the Moon or Venus will mean emotional happiness for life. Whatever this star touches, it will bring positive results.

Betelgeuse as a heliacal rising star at birth

Betelgeuse can be used as a cosmic and as a visible heliacal rising star and will reward the person with whose Sun it rises with the ability to succeed. He will have a natural charisma, generated by self-confidence. This natural charisma can lead a person to a very successful positive life or, depending on the other factors of the chart, can speak of a "rogue". (Brady B.)

One of the stars in the night sky is the brightest Betelgeuse. It is located in the constellation Orion. It can be seen in the night sky even without special instruments. The size of the star is amazing. It exceeds the mass of the Sun by 20 times in its mass, and by more than 1000 times in diameter. The distance to Betelgeuse is estimated at just over 600 light years (the distance traveled by light in a year at a speed of 300,000 km / h is 1 light year).

Betelgeuse (translated from Arabic as "twin's armpit") is a supermassive red giant. If you take it and put it in the place of the Sun, then it would reach the orbit of Jupiter, while covering all the planets that are inside. Our Sun will emit light 50 thousand times less when compared with Betelgeuse. By galactic standards, this star is still young - about 10 million years old. Stars belonging to red supergiants live very short lives. Considering the huge pressure inside the star created due to its colossal mass, it burns its fuel very quickly, which directly affects the lifetime of the star itself.

Star life

The birth of a star is no different from the birth of other stars. In the vastness of the galaxy, a molecular cloud of a spherical shape is formed, a protostar. Then thermonuclear fusion began under the enormous pressure of the mass of the star. This process leads to the heating of the core. At this stage, hydrogen begins to turn into helium, while huge energy is released into space. Thanks to this energy, the star does not shrink.

Over time, hydrogen ends, which accordingly entails a loss of energy and the star still begins to shrink. The core begins to shrink with even greater force until the moment when helium begins to go into another state - turn into carbon. Then there is a helium flash. At this point, the star begins to release an enormous amount of energy. From an ordinary star, it turns into a red giant. At this stage of life is Betelgeuse.

New elements appear (neon, oxygen, etc.) before the formation of iron. Over time, the fuel runs out, and the core begins to shrink again. Inside the star, the iron core is compressed, which subsequently becomes neutronic. Then there is a huge explosion. This explosion is the formation of a type 2 supernova. Instead of a core, a black hole or a neutron star can form.

Is there a danger to the Earth?

There is no definite answer to the question of when Betelgeuse will explode. Some scientists believe that it will happen very soon (in the next 2 thousand years), and there are those who believe that it will happen much later. For our planet, this explosion does not carry any danger. However, if the explosion occurs in our time, then one can observe an amazingly beautiful picture in the sky. The brightness of Betelgeuse will be comparable to the Moon, both day and night. However, after a few years, the visibility will fade and then gradually disappear completely. And in its place is formed.

largest visible star

On the right shoulder of Orion, in the crown of the Winter Hexagon, the beautiful Betelgeuse shines in the winter skies.

Constellation of Orion. Betelgeuse is a reddish-orange star in the upper left corner of the constellation.

This star is called alpha Orion for a reason, although the dazzling bluish Rigel - in the photo in the lower right corner - is brighter most of the time. Betelgeuse is in many ways a unique star that astronomers have been exploring for many years and discovering more and more interesting facts.

First, Betelgeuse is one of the largest stars in the universe. Its diameter is more than the diameter of the Sun by about a thousand times. Even the largest known star, VY Canis Major, is only twice the diameter of Betelgeuse (and therefore eight times the volume). So it is not in vain that this star bears the proud title of a red supergiant.

If it were in place of the Sun, it would almost fill the orbit of Saturn:

Only eight known stars (all red hypergiants) surpass Betelgeuse in volume, but they all look very dim in the earth's sky. The reason is simple: Betelgeuse is much closer than all of them.

Betelgeuse is 640 light-years away, which is very short on the scale of the Galaxy. Betelgeuse is the closest supergiant to us.

An interesting conclusion follows from this: Betelgeuse in the earth's sky has the largest apparent diameter of all stars (after the Sun, of course.)

It is clear that everything that is less than an arc minute in diameter is perceived by the human eye as a point. The angular diameters of absolutely all stars (except the Sun) are less than an arc minute, so they all look like dots. In fact, of course, all their angular diameters are different. The angular diameter of Betelgeuse was first determined in 1920 as 0.047 arcseconds, which was the largest angular diameter of a star then known. Since then, however, the star R Doradus, invisible in the northern hemisphere, has been discovered, the angular diameter of which turned out to be 0.057 arcseconds. But even in the southern hemisphere it is almost invisible: at maximum brightness it is hardly visible to the naked eye, and at minimum it can not be seen with every telescope. R Doradus is so cold that it emits mostly infrared radiation. But since then, the angular measurements have been refined, and for Betelgeuse, the apparent diameter is determined from 0.056 to 0.059 arcseconds, which restores to it the lost positions of the largest visible star. It's not so easy to push the queen of winter skies!

Not surprisingly, Betelgeuse was the first star for which disk photographs were taken. That is, on which the star looked not like a point, but a disk. (That the bright stars appear as disks in the above photograph is a convention of the image, which can only convey a difference in brightness by a difference in size.) The photo was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995.

Here is a historical UV image (NASA/ESA credit):

It is clear that the colors in the photograph are arbitrary: the redder, the colder. A bright spot near the center of the star is considered one of its poles, that is, the axis of rotation of Betelgeuse is directed almost towards us, but slightly to the side.

More recently, namely in July last (2009), new photographs of Betelgeuse were taken with the ground-based Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Here is one of them:

The resulting photos show that Betelgeuse has a tail. This tail stretches for six radii of Betelgeuse itself (comparable to the distance from the Sun to Neptune). What kind of tail it is, why it is there and what it means, scientists themselves do not yet know, although there are many assumptions.

Measuring Betelgeuse

It is interesting to give the main parameters of Betelgeuse. We will see that in almost all respects, Betelgeuse turns out to be one of the “winners” of the known Universe.

In diameter, as already mentioned, Betelgeuse exceeds the Sun by about a thousand times. It is very difficult to accurately determine the diameter and distance from the Sun of a single star, and no satellites have been found in Betelgeuse (although it is very possible that they are, they just cannot be seen next to such a hulk). But Betelgeuse is so huge that its diameter could be measured "directly", i.e. with the help of an interferometer - this operation could be applied to a very small number of stars, and Betelgeuse was the first.

In terms of mass, Betelgeuse exceeds the Sun by about 15 times (from 10 to 20 - to measure the mass of a single star is generally the aerobatics of astrometry, more precisely, it has not yet been possible). How can it be, a thousand times larger in diameter, which means that it is a billion times larger in volume, and only 15 times larger in mass, what is the density there? But this one. And if we take into account that the core of a star is much denser than its outer layers, then the outer layers of Betelgeuse are much rarer than anything that we can imagine, except for interstellar space, into which Betelgeuse, like almost any star, passes very gradually, i.e. it is impossible to determine exactly where the star ends and interstellar space begins. Nevertheless, fifteen solar masses is quite a lot for a star. Only 120 known stars are heavier than Betelgeuse.

How many times is Betelgeuse brighter than the Sun? One hundred thirty-five thousand times! True, this is taking into account infrared radiation, and in visible light, about a hundred thousand times. That is, if you mentally place Betelgeuse and the Sun at the same distance, Betelgeuse would be a hundred thousand times brighter than the Sun. In the list of the most powerful known stars, Betelgeuse occupies approximately the twenty-fifth position (approximately, because the exact brightness of many hypergiants is not exactly known). If you place Betelgeuse at a standard distance of ten parsecs from the Earth (about 32 light years), then it would be visible during the day, and at night objects would cast shadows in its light. But it’s better not to put it there, because the radiation of a supergiant is such a thing that it’s better for living beings to look at from a distance. It seems that the absence of nearby supergiants (of any color) is one of the conditions for life on Earth.

The surface temperature of Betelgeuse is three and a half thousand kelvins (well, ordinary degrees are also close to that). For a star, this is not much; Our Sun has a surface temperature of 5700 K, which is twice as hot. That is, Betelgeuse is a "cold" star, one of the coldest known stars. The temperature of a star determines its color, or rather the shade of its glow. Those mysterious people who manage to see the stars in color unequivocally define the color of Betelgeuse as pronouncedly reddish (see the epigraph). That is why Betelgeuse is called a red supergiant. It is not necessary to think that it really is bright red, like a poppy: rather, its surface is yellowish-orange.

Presumably, this is what the surface of Betelgeuse looks like.

I mentioned above that the apparent diameter of Betelgeuse is from 0.056 to 0.059 arcseconds. This variation is not due to inaccurate measurements. And due to the fact that the body of the star itself pulsates with an approximate period of several years, changing both size and brightness. It would be logical to assume that as the size decreases, the brightness of the star will also decrease, but in fact everything happens exactly the opposite: at the minimum size, Betelgeuse acquires maximum brightness. At maximum brightness, Betelgeuse turns out to be brighter than Rigel, whose magnitude is 0.18, that is, the brightest star in the constellation. Therefore, in terms of brilliance, Betelgeuse is fully entitled to the designation Alpha Orion.

In itself, this is not surprising: the heating of a star during compression is a common place in astrophysics (it occurs due to the transition of gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy, who knows the exact wording, correct me). But why is Betelgeuse so pulsating? What kind of processes are going on inside her? Nobody knows.

The short youth of a giant star

Remember we talked about how young Sirius is, only 250 million years old? So, Betelgeuse is a small child compared to Sirius: she is only 10 million years old! When it caught fire, dinosaurs had already died out on Earth long ago, mammals had already taken the main position on land, the continents had already almost taken on their current outlines, the youngest mountain systems (including the Himalayas) were being erected. Realize that the Ural Mountains are much older than Betelgeuse!

But unlike Sirius, which is not clear where it came from, it is very clear where Betelgeuse came from.

Orion is a unique constellation: the stars in it, not only for our eyes, but in reality are quite close to each other in space. And they are close in age too. The fact is that most of Orion is occupied by a giant nebula - the Molecular Cloud of Orion, in which intense star formation processes are taking place (that is, it is a "stellar cradle", besides, almost the closest to Earth). Young stars scatter from this nebula in all directions. Of these young, hot blue stars, exemplary peers, relatively close to the place of their birth, Orion consists.

But if all the other stars in Orion are hot to blue (which is typical for young stars), then why is Betelgeuse red?

Because it's very big.

The lifetime of a star is determined by how long it takes hydrogen to completely convert to helium in the star's core. (people, educational program about why the stars are burning, do you need to write?) It would seem that the larger and heavier the star, the more hydrogen it contains, and the longer it should burn. But here again, the opposite is true: the larger and heavier the star, the higher the temperature in its core and the faster the thermonuclear reaction goes there. Since Betelgeuse was born heavier and larger than its peers Rigel, Bellatrix and other stars of Orion, the hydrogen in its core burned faster and burned out in just a few million years. And after the burning out of hydrogen in the core, the star enters the dying stage - the transformation into a red giant. In the case of Betelgeuse, it has evolved into a red supergiant.

That is, despite the fact that Betelgeuse is one of the youngest stars in the Universe in terms of age, it is already on the verge of death. Alas, large hot stars do not live very long, outliving their turbulent life in just a few million years. There are several more red hypergiants that have entered the last phase of their development, but they are all very far from us. Therefore, Betelgeuse provides a unique, albeit sad, opportunity to study the last phase of a star's life from a relatively close distance.

Betelgeuse is known to have shrunk in diameter by 15 percent over the past 15 years. This is a constant contraction, not associated with pulsations. Mathematical models of stars say that such a reduction in size is also a sign that the end of the star's evolution is approaching.

What will happen to Betelgeuse next? This is not the peaceful Sirius-Main, now Sirius B, who simply quietly threw off his scarlet shells and turned into a white dwarf. The mass of Betelgeuse is so great that it will have to throw off the shells in one of the grandest explosions that are known to the Universe - in the outbreak of a supernova.

And it will be the closest supernova to the Earth, perhaps for the entire time of the existence of the Earth. Precisely because there is not and has not been a single supergiant closer: supergiants are doomed to end their evolution in supernova explosions, supernova remnants are characteristic and easily identified, and so there is not a single one nearby.

When it will be? Betelgeuse will explode within the next millennium. Possibly tomorrow.

How will it look like? Instead of a shining point in the sky, a disk of dazzling brightness will appear, which will be visible during the day, and at night it will be possible to read by its light. This disk will slowly fade, and the night sky will probably return to normal in a few months. In place of Betelgeuse, a nebula of amazing beauty will appear, which will be visible to the naked eye for several years. Then nothing will be visible.

What will be left of Betelgeuse? No, not a white dwarf - it's too heavy for that. There will be a neutron star (pulsar) or a black hole.

How will this affect life on Earth? Most likely not. Betelgeuse is far enough from the Earth that the hard radiation from the supernova burst is dissipated in space without reaching the solar system, and what arrives will be reflected by the solar magnetosphere. Only if the axis of rotation of Betelgeuse was directed directly to the Earth, then hard gamma radiation would painfully whip through the biosphere. But we know from Hubble photographs that Betelgeuse's axis of rotation is away from the Earth. So the heavenly fireworks can be admired from the Earth quite safely.

The same fate awaits Rigel, Bellatrix and the other bright stars of Orion over the next tens of millions of years. Before becoming a red supergiant, Betelgeuse was obviously a hot blue star like them. They will be replaced by young stars, still hidden from us in the depths of the Molecular Cloud of Orion.

Other photos of the star can be found.

Who among you would not dream of witnessing the epoch-making departure from the earthly sky of one of the most prominent stars?

According to some sources, the right shoulder of the celestial hunter, at any moment, can emit its last breath in the form of a long and bright supernova flash, leaving behind an empty place invisible to the naked eye.

This will completely change the look that so beautifully enlivens the winter sky of our latitudes. Should we expect this event in our lifetime, and does it pose a threat to our planet?

According to a number of news feeds, a grandiose supernova explosion could ignite at any second. Betelgeuse will increase its brightness by a thousand times and will illuminate the sky for several months until it gradually goes out and leaves behind a growing one with an invisible neutron star or black hole at its center. Such a cosmic catastrophe does not threaten us with anything serious, unless one of the poles of the exploding star is directed towards the Earth. The flow of gamma rays and charged particles will create some problems with the magnetic environment and the ozone layer of the planet and its atmosphere. Is there any reason to trust such information, or is it just another media horror story?

Probability of explosion

Scientists do not deny the possibility of such an outcome. However, it is not known for certain whether the luminary will explode tomorrow, or in a million years, it is also unknown whether it will explode at all. Despite the power of modern astronomy, knowledge about the life of the stars seems to be re-experiencing its infancy. The paradox of the existence of giants, the problems of modeling star formation in close systems cast doubt on the established scientific paradigms about the life of stars. The discovery of objects that do not fit into the framework of existing theories is likely to create more questions than answers. An example of this is even the well-known Betelgeuse, about which, it would seem, we should know everything.

Unknown Betelgeuse

What do we know about Betelgeuse? An amateur astronomer, pointing a finger at a reddish light, will talk about its colossal size, variability and other publicly available facts. And, in order to excite the imagination of the listener, he will add that if you put it in the place of the Sun, then all the planets of the terrestrial group would be in the bowels of the supergiant, and possibly even. In this he will be right, but no matter how strange it may be, a professional astronomer will operate with almost the same set of knowledge about the red giant. For example, the exact size, mass and distance to Betelgeuse has not yet been established.

Distances to the star are estimated at such rough limits as 420-650, some sources give completely terrifying boundaries from 180 to 1300 light years. Estimation of the mass and radius values ​​also do not differ in accuracy and vary within 13-17 solar masses and 950-1200 solar radii, respectively. Such large discrepancies are explained by the fact that, due to its remoteness, the distances to Betelgeuse cannot be measured using the annual parallax method. In addition, Betelgeuse is neither a double star nor part of any close cluster. This feature does not allow one to correctly estimate the mass and other characteristics of the star, including the absolute luminosity.

Even the fact that Betelgeuse became the first star (naturally, after the Sun) for which it was possible to measure the angular size and obtain a detailed image of its disk, in fact, does not give us any significant data regarding its parameters and nature.

The situation is similar with the whole "stellar" branch of astronomy. Scientists not only have to develop new models that describe the mechanisms of formation, evolution and death of stars, but also radically reshape the old ones. For example, how to explain the existence of recently discovered stars with a mass of 200-250 solar masses, if the upper theoretical limit until recently was estimated at 150 solar masses? How to explain the nature of gamma-ray bursts? Not far off are other discoveries that will continue to baffle astronomers.

Will there be an explosion?

Returning to Betelgeuse, one can make a kind of verdict to those sources that declare the imminent appearance of the brightest “farewell fireworks” in our sky. Astronomers make it clear that such an event, although it has a very real probability of happening before our eyes, but this probability is extremely small, and it is not possible to estimate it. Naturally, the media, trying to revive the public, remake these cautious statements in their own way.

Supernova explosions are classified as those cosmic events that are observed de facto. There was no case in science that a supernova explosion was registered, which was predicted and expected in advance. For this reason, astronomers can only indirectly judge the processes preceding the explosion.

With regards to Betelgeuse, scientists confidently declare that the star is in its final life stage, when the current percentage of carbon and subsequent heavy elements can no longer support stable thermonuclear processes. According to existing models, most likely this will lead to the termination of the hydrodynamic equilibrium of the star, in other words, to a supernova explosion. There is also the possibility that Betelgeuse will end its life not so brightly, but will simply gradually shed its shell, turning into an oxygen-neon white dwarf.

In any case, modern science is incapable of assigning an exact date for the explosion, or of denying the very fact that there will be one. The resulting media frenzy over the appearance of a “second Sun” erupted after there was controversy in the global astronomical community over the rapid decline in the average brightness and size of Betelgeuse. Many astronomers confidently stated that such a phenomenon is explained by an imminent supernova explosion, which, by cosmic standards, is about to come - over the next two millennia. Others are more restrained in their forecasts, and explain the extinction of the star by some temporary or periodic processes. This unannounced astronomical dispute shows how much new and unknown scientists have to learn.

A dream on a galactic scale

Undoubtedly, a bright light in the sky would inspire people to forgotten thoughts about how insignificant they are in the Universe. One has only to think for a moment that the same explosion can be observed by possible inhabitants of other distant systems of our vast galaxy. Such stellar news will bring real invaluable benefits to astronomers. If such a close and expected supernova explosion occurs in our lifetime, the curious eyes of all types of telescopes and other equipment will be directed in its direction. In convulsive elation, scientists will fill their databases with tons of valuable information coming with the light of the explosion. Every day from all over the world will be distributed information about the next sensational discovery. But these are just vague dreams.

Reality dictates its own rules. The explosion of Betelgeuse is not only not to be feared or even expected to be seen, in fact one can only dream of it. All the more bright light, if it were lit before our eyes, would hardly be compared in brightness with the full moon and would not bring us any significant harm. In the meantime, we have the opportunity to continue to observe the red star of Orion and hope that astronomers will replenish their knowledge without such rare and amazing events.

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List of brightest stars

№	Name	Distance, St. years	Apparent value	Absolute value	Spectral class	celestial hemisphere
0		0,0000158	−26,72	4,8	G2V
1		8,6	−1,46	1,4	A1Vm	Southern
2		310	−0,72	−5,53	A9II	Southern
3		4,3	−0,27	4,06	G2V+K1V	Southern
4		34	−0,04	−0,3	K1.5IIIp	Northern
5		25	0.03 (variable)	0,6	A0Va	Northern
6		41	0,08	−0,5	G6III + G2III	Northern
7		~870	0.12 (variable)	−7	B8Iae	Southern
8		11,4	0,38	2,6	F5IV-V	Northern
9		69	0,46	−1,3	B3Vnp	Southern
10		~530	0.50 (variable)	−5,14	M2Iab	Northern
11		~400	0.61 (variable)	−4,4	B1III	Southern
12