This post is for all of you who enjoy learning about the night sky.  I spent an hour exploring the night sky this evening – from 10:30 to 11:30 p.m.  It was a bit cold, but no moon and no clouds made it a great night to get out my telescope and take a tour of the night sky [Meade LX90 GPS using my new Televue Nagler Type 6 13mm eyepiece].  I began with the Great Orion Nebula, then proceeded to see Saturn with its rings now edge on to earth – very cool.  Then I took a glance at M82 – an irregular galaxy, as well as the Spindle Galaxy and the Whirlpool Galaxy (the latter two are just small smudges of light in my telescope).  But one of the coolest things I studied tonight was something I’d taken for granted and never really explored much:  the star Betelgeuse (pronounced beetle juice).  Let’s begin with its location.  If you recognize Orion the Hunter in the night sky, Betelgeuse is the star marking Orion’s  left shoulder.  It is one of the largest stars you can see with the naked eye.  It is located approximately 640 light years away (which  means the light we see with the naked eye left  Betelgeuse 640 years ago – a point that will become important as you’ll see in a moment).  Betelgeuse is known as a red supergiant.  In size (diameter) it is between 500 and 1,000 times the size of our sun.  Which means, if it were located where our sun is located, it would completely fill our inner solar system, taking out earth and reaching nearly to Jupiter!  Imagine a beachball at mid-field at Arrowhead Stadium where the Kansas City Chiefs play.   The beachball would be our sun, and Arrowhead Stadium the size of Betelgeuse.   Now, here’s one more interesting bit of information:  This star is in its final stage of life.  It will likely explode into a supernova – in fact, it is possible that it already has.  Since it’s light takes 640 years to reach earth (give or take a few hundred years)  it may have exploded already and we simply don’t know it yet.  When it does explode it will light up our night sky like nothing you’ve ever imagined.  Though because of its distance, and the direction it is likely to explode, it will not harm our planet.  So, take a look at Betelgeuse while you can.  It may not be there when your grandkids are adults (or, then again, it might last for a few million years yet – we can’t be sure).

Betelgeuse - Image and Location in Orion