The flames of Betelgeuse: New image reveals vast nebula around famous supergiant star

June 23, 2011
The flames of Betelgeuse

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This picture of the dramatic nebula around the bright red supergiant star Betelgeuse was created from images taken with the VISIR infrared camera on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). This structure, resembling flames emanating from the star, forms because the behemoth is shedding its material into space. The earlier NACO observations of the plumes are reproduced in the central disc. The small red circle in the middle has a diameter about four and half times that of the Earth’s orbit and represents the location of Betelgeuse's visible surface. The black disc corresponds to a very bright part of the image that was masked to allow the fainter nebula to be seen. Credit: ESO/P. Kervella

(PhysOrg.com) -- Betelgeuse, a red supergiant in the constellation of Orion, is one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It is also one of the biggest, being almost the size of the orbit of Jupiter — about four and half times the diameter of the Earth's orbit. The VLT image shows the surrounding nebula, which is much bigger than the supergiant itself, stretching 60 billion kilometres away from the star's surface — about 400 times the distance of the Earth from the Sun.

Red supergiants like Betelgeuse represent one of the last stages in the life of a massive star. In this short-lived phase, the star increases in size, and expels material into space at a tremendous rate — it sheds immense quantities of material (about the mass of the Sun) in just 10 000 years.

The process by which material is shed from a star like Betelgeuse involves two phenomena. The first is the formation of huge plumes of gas (although much smaller than the nebula now imaged) extending into space from the star's surface, previously detected using the NACO instrument on the VLT. The other, which is behind the ejection of the plumes, is the vigorous up and down movement of giant bubbles in Betelgeuse's atmosphere — like boiling water circulating in a pot.

The new results show that the plumes seen close to the star are probably connected to structures in the outer nebula now imaged in the infrared with VISIR. The nebula cannot be seen in visible light, as the very bright Betelgeuse completely outshines it. The irregular, asymmetric shape of the material indicates that the star did not eject its material in a symmetric way. The bubbles of stellar material and the giant plumes they originate may be responsible for the clumpy look of the nebula.

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This sequence starts with a wide view of the spectacular constellation of Orion and the surrounding area. We gradually close in on the red supergiant star Betelgeuse and zoom in until the strange flame-like nebula becomes visible in a new infrared image from the VISIR camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Credit: ESO

The material visible in the new image is most likely made of silicate and alumina dust. This is the same material that forms most of the crust of the Earth and other rocky planets. At some time in the distant past, the silicates of the Earth were formed by a massive (and now extinct) star similar to Betelgeuse.

In this composite image, the earlier NACO observations of the plumes are reproduced in the central disc. The small red circle in the middle has a diameter about four and half times that of the Earth's and represents the location of Betelgeuse's visible surface. The black disc corresponds to a very bright part of the image that was masked to allow the fainter nebula to be seen. The VISIR images were taken through infrared filters sensitive to radiation of different wavelengths, with blue corresponding to shorter wavelengths and red to longer. The field of view is 5.63 x 5.63 arcseconds.

More information: Research paper (Astronomy & Astrophysics)

Provided by ESO (news : web)

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omatumr
Jun 23, 2011

Rank: 1 / 5 (8)
The flames of Betelgeuse: New image reveals vast nebula around famous supergiant star.


Yes, like a mother hen surrounded by chicks.

Fragmentation products may be:

a.) Galaxies of stars
b.) Stars with planets

That seems to be how the Solar System came into being as part of the dynamic, endless cosmos [1,2]

1. "Neutron Repulsion", The APEIRON Journal, in press, 19 pages (2011)

http://arxiv.org/...2.1499v1

2. "Is the Universe Expanding?" The Journal of Cosmology 13, 4187-4190 (2011)

http://journalofc...102.html

With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel

that_guy
Jun 23, 2011

Rank: 5 / 5 (6)
Call me selfish, but it would be awesome if betelgeuse went supernova during my lifetime. can you imagine what an awesome sight it would be?
yyz
Jun 24, 2011

Rank: 5 / 5 (3)
"Call me selfish, but it would be awesome if betelgeuse went supernova during my lifetime. can you imagine what an awesome sight it would be?"

At least we would have a pretty good view of the event. A few young SNR, with no known optical counterparts, have been discovered hiding behind the dusty veil of our Milky Way though.

I've been following the study of a *very* young supernova remnant buried behind the Sagittarius MW. In a recent paper, astronomers studying SNR G1.9 0.3 have confirmed this star appears to have exploded, unseen by any astronomers at the time, right around 1900! This would make G1.9 0.3 the youngest known galactic SNR: http://arxiv.org/...98v1.pdf

It's interesting to ponder what other stars, hidden from our view, are about to erupt as a supernova. When Betelgeuse decides to go, we will at least have an unobscured view of the event.
that_guy
Jun 24, 2011

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
and we don't have to worry about the ozone getting gamma-rayed, like the slim possibility we would have with eta carinae
Rank 4.7 /5 (12 votes)
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