Star
A red supergiant so vast that, if it replaced the Sun, its surface would extend past Jupiter's orbit.
| Type | Star |
|---|---|
| Distance from Earth | 548 ly |
| Diameter | 1,200,000,000 km |
| Mass | 3.58 × 10³¹ kg |
| Temperature | 3,327°C |
| Apparent magnitude | 0.5 |
| Redshift | 0 |
| Hemisphere | Northern |
| Discovered | 150 |
Stars spend most of their lives fusing hydrogen into helium in their core, and it's the balance between that outward pressure and gravity pulling inward that fixes how big and how bright a star gets.
At 1,200,000,000 km across, Betelgeuse is 862 times the diameter of the Sun.
Its mass is 18 times the mass of the Sun.
The light reaching us from Betelgeuse tonight left it around 548 years ago.
Its surface sits at 3,600 K, cooler than the Sun at 5,772 K, which is what sets its colour.
It has been on record since the year 150.
Play today's Cosmodle