Betelgeuse Explained

Summary

The video script delves into the peculiar dimming of Betelgeuse, one of the closest massive stars to the Sun. It explores the star's lifecycle, its transformation into a red supergiant, and the two potential fates it could meet: a supernova explosion or a quiet implosion into a black hole. The script also discusses recent theories for the dimming, including the presence of giant star spots or ejected dust, while emphasizing the star's significance in the cosmic creation of heavy elements essential for life.

Takeaways

• 🌌 Betelgeuse, located in the Orion constellation, is one of the closest massive stars to the Sun and has recently dimmed to one-third of its usual brightness.
• 🔍 The dimming of Betelgeuse is noticeable to the naked eye and has raised questions about its future behavior.
• 💫 Betelgeuse is a very young star in astronomical terms, having been born only about 10 million years ago, compared to the Sun's 4.6 billion years.
• ☀️ Despite its youth, Betelgeuse is much older in terms of its lifespan, having already entered its giant phase due to its rapid consumption of fuel.
• 🔥 Betelgeuse has 15 times more mass than the Sun and emits 100,000 times more power, making it a 'monster' among stars.
• 🌀 Massive stars like Betelgeuse are rare, with only 1 in 200 stars being born with such a large mass.
• 💥 When massive stars die, they can either undergo a supernova explosion or collapse into a black hole, depending on their mass.
• 🌑 The recent dimming of Betelgeuse does not necessarily indicate an impending supernova, as stars do not typically dim before such an event.
• 🌡️ Infrared measurements suggest that the overall power output of Betelgeuse has not changed, indicating that the dimming is limited to the visible light spectrum.
• 🌐 Two popular theories for the dimming are the presence of a giant star spot or the ejection of dust from the star's surface, both of which could block light without changing the star's overall luminosity.
• 🌠 Betelgeuse's behavior is a reminder of the cosmic processes that have contributed to the creation of the elements essential for life on Earth.

Q & A

What unusual behavior has been observed in Betelgeuse recently?

Betelgeuse has recently dimmed down to just one third of its usual brightness, which is noticeable by the naked eye and has demoted it from the 10th to the 24th brightest star.

Where is Betelgeuse located in the sky?

Betelgeuse is located towards the Orion constellation, specifically at the shoulder of the mythological hunter, also known as alpha Orionis.

How does the age of Betelgeuse compare to the Sun?

Betelgeuse is much younger than the Sun; it was probably born just 10 million years ago, compared to the Sun's age of about 4.6 billion years.

Why is Betelgeuse considered a massive star?

Betelgeuse is considered massive because it was born with 15 times more mass than our Sun and has been consuming its fuel supply at a rapid rate.

What is the difference between a supernova and a star that implodes into a black hole?

A supernova occurs when a star's core collapses and bounces back, releasing tremendous energy and matter. A star that implodes into a black hole does not bounce back; it collapses completely into a singular point of infinite density.

What are the two likely fates for a massive star like Betelgeuse when it dies?

The two likely fates for a massive star like Betelgeuse are either a supernova explosion or imploding into a black hole.

What is the significance of Betelgeuse's dimming in the visible light spectrum?

The dimming in the visible light spectrum suggests some change in the star's outer layers, but it does not necessarily indicate an imminent supernova, as the overall luminosity has not changed significantly.

What is the role of granulation in the appearance of Betelgeuse?

Granulation, caused by the convection of hot plasma beneath the surface, can create large dark features on the surface of Betelgeuse, potentially explaining the lopsided images and visible light dimming.

What is the escape velocity from the surface of Betelgeuse?

The escape velocity from the surface of Betelgeuse is about 60 kilometers per second, significantly lower than the Sun's due to its weaker surface gravity.

How do astronomers determine if a star like Betelgeuse is about to go supernova?

Astronomers look for changes in brightness, spectral analysis, and other observational data, but predicting the exact moment of a supernova is challenging due to the complexity of stellar dynamics.

What is the connection between massive stars like Betelgeuse and life on Earth?

Massive stars like Betelgeuse are responsible for forging many of the heavy elements necessary for life through nuclear fusion. When they explode or die, these elements are dispersed throughout the universe and can become part of new stars and planets, including those that may harbor life.

Outlines

00:00

🌌 Unusual Dimming of Betelgeuse

The script begins with the observation of Betelgeuse, a massive star in the Orion constellation, which has recently dimmed to a third of its usual brightness. This unusual behavior has raised questions about whether it might be on the verge of a supernova explosion. The star, also known as alpha Orionis, is typically the 10th brightest in the sky but has been demoted to the 24th due to its dimming. The paragraph delves into the star's background, highlighting its relative youth at only 10 million years old compared to the Sun's 4.6 billion, and its status as a red supergiant, which is much rarer than average stars.

05:01

🔥 Betelgeuse's Life Cycle and Potential Supernova

This paragraph explores the life cycle of Betelgeuse, a star with 15 times the mass of the Sun, which has already entered its giant phase due to its rapid consumption of fuel. The script explains the process of helium fusion in the star's core and the subsequent expansion of its outer envelope. It also discusses the two possible outcomes for a star of Betelgeuse's mass when it reaches the end of its life: a core-collapse supernova, leading to either a neutron star or a black hole, depending on the star's ability to resist gravitational collapse.

10:04

🌑 The Mystery of Betelgeuse's Disappearance

The script introduces the possibility that Betelgeuse might not end its life with a bang but rather a whimper, disappearing without a supernova. It references the observation of a similar event in 2010, where a red supergiant star seemingly vanished. The paragraph also discusses the theoretical models predicting whether a star will implode into a black hole or explode as a supernova, based on its mass, and the inherent unpredictability due to factors like rotation speed and metallicity.

15:05

🌗 The Enigma of Betelgeuse's Recent Dimming

This paragraph addresses the recent noticeable dimming of Betelgeuse, which has been constant and steep, dropping to one-third of its usual brightness. The script explains that while Betelgeuse is a variable star and changes in brightness are not unusual, the recent decline is significant and has raised concerns. It also mentions the difficulty in predicting pre-supernova behavior due to the complexity of stellar interiors and the lack of observed data leading up to a supernova event.

20:07

🌟 Debunking the Supernova Hypothesis for Betelgeuse

The script presents evidence that suggests the recent dimming of Betelgeuse may not indicate an impending supernova. It discusses the difference between visible light brightness and overall luminosity, highlighting that infrared measurements show no change in Betelgeuse's power output. The paragraph also introduces two popular theories to explain the dimming: the presence of a giant star spot or an episode of dust ejection from the star.

25:07

🌌 The Significance of Betelgeuse in the Cosmos

The final paragraph reflects on the significance of massive stars like Betelgeuse in the universe. It emphasizes that these stars, despite their rarity and short lifespans, play a crucial role in the creation of heavier elements necessary for life. The script poetically describes the potential supernova or implosion of Betelgeuse as a sacrificial act that contributes to the birth of new stars and planets, and by extension, life itself.

Keywords

💡Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is a massive star located in the Orion constellation, known for its brightness and distinctive red color. It has recently dimmed to one-third of its usual brightness, sparking curiosity and concern about its behavior and potential to go supernova. The video explores its characteristics, life cycle, and the recent dimming event.

💡Supernova

A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion that occurs during the last stages of a massive star's life. Betelgeuse's dimming has led to speculation that it might go supernova. The video discusses how supernovae are formed and the potential outcomes for Betelgeuse if it reaches this stage.

💡Variable star

A variable star is one whose brightness changes over time. Betelgeuse is a known variable star, but its recent dimming is unusual even for its variable nature. The video highlights the difference between typical variability and the significant recent changes observed in Betelgeuse's brightness.

💡Luminosity

Luminosity refers to the total amount of energy a star emits per unit of time. Despite Betelgeuse's recent visible light dimming, its luminosity, especially in the infrared spectrum, remains unchanged, indicating that the overall energy output has not decreased significantly. This distinction is crucial for understanding the true nature of the star's dimming.

💡Core collapse

Core collapse is a process in massive stars where the core contracts under gravity, leading to a supernova or forming a neutron star or black hole. The video explains how Betelgeuse might undergo core collapse and the different outcomes depending on its mass and internal processes.

💡Hydrogen fusion

Hydrogen fusion is the nuclear reaction that powers stars, converting hydrogen into helium and releasing energy. In Betelgeuse, hydrogen fusion in the core has ceased, leading to the fusion of heavier elements and its expansion into a red supergiant. The video details how this process affects the star's life cycle.

💡Triple-alpha process

The triple-alpha process is a set of nuclear fusion reactions by which three helium nuclei (alpha particles) are transformed into carbon. This process occurs in Betelgeuse's core, significantly increasing its energy output and causing its outer envelope to expand. The video uses this concept to explain Betelgeuse's current state.

💡Granulation

Granulation refers to the visible pattern on the surface of stars caused by convection cells of hot plasma. In Betelgeuse, these granulation cells are enormous due to its weak surface gravity. The video discusses how granulation could contribute to the observed dimming and lopsided appearance of Betelgeuse.

💡Dust hypothesis

The dust hypothesis suggests that Betelgeuse's dimming is due to dust ejected from the star's surface, blocking some of its light. This explanation is supported by the star's unchanged infrared luminosity and historical instances of dust ejection. The video presents this as one of the plausible explanations for Betelgeuse's dimming.

💡Neutron star

A neutron star is the dense remnant core left after a supernova explosion, composed mostly of neutrons. If Betelgeuse's core collapse results in a supernova, it could leave behind a neutron star. The video explores this possibility as one of the potential fates of Betelgeuse.

Highlights

Betelgeuse, one of the closest massive stars to the Sun, has recently dimmed down to just one third of its usual brightness.

Betelgeuse is located towards the Orion constellation and is the 10th brightest star in the sky, usually.

Betelgeuse is far younger than the Sun, having been born just 10 million years ago.

Betelgeuse has 15 times more mass than the Sun and is running on empty, having transformed into its giant phase.

Betelgeuse is a rare massive star, with only 1 in 200 stars being born with as much mass.

Inside a star, the core where fusion happens and the envelope, which is hot gas, are two key zones.

Betelgeuse is currently accumulating carbon ash inside its core, leading to a rise in temperature and pressure.

The end of Betelgeuse's life could involve a supernova or a more subtle implosion into a black hole.

Astronomers have observed another red supergiant disappear without a supernova, suggesting a possible fate for Betelgeuse.

Betelgeuse's dimming is unusual as it is a constant and steep decline in brightness.

Infrared measurements show that Betelgeuse's overall power output has not changed, indicating the dimming is limited to visible light.

Two popular theories explain Betelgeuse's recent behavior: a giant star spot or a convulsion that flung off outer layers.

Betelgeuse's surface gravity is weak, leading to large convection cells and possibly large dark features on its surface.

Astronomer Emily Levesque's work suggests that the surface temperature of Betelgeuse does not support a dramatic cooling episode.

The dust hypothesis, where dust blocks some of the star's light, is a compelling explanation for the dimming.

Betelgeuse's potential supernova could provide an opportunity to study the final stages of such a star, but it's probabilistically unlikely to occur in our lifetime.

Massive stars like Betelgeuse are crucial for the formation of heavy elements necessary for life.

Transcripts

[Music]

one of the closest massive stars to the

Sun is acting weird Betelgeuse recently

dimmed down to just one third of his

usual brightness

what could be causing this irregular

behavior could this mean that it's about

to explode

grab a cup of tea and settle in because

today we're going to be taking a deep

dive into everything happening with the

enigmatic Betelgeuse

Beetlejuice lucky' towards the Orion

constellation and you'll find this

infamous star at the shoulder of the

mythological hunter also known as alpha

Orionis it's easy to spot being the 10th

brightest star in the sky at least

usually it's the tenth brightest you see

over the last few months

astronomers have noticed something

strange about this star it's now about

1/3 as bright as usual something

noticeable by eye in fact it's now been

demoted to the 24th brightest star to

understand what's happening we first

have to talk about some background about

this star because you see what makes

this dimming particularly interesting is

that Betelgeuse is no ordinary star no

in fact for example it is far far

younger than our own Sun whilst the Sun

was born from the gravitational collapse

of an ancient giant molecular cloud some

four thousand six hundred million years

ago Betelgeuse was probably born just 10

million years ago for some context this

would be about the time that our hominid

ancestors started to splinter off from

what would become gorillas if we spread

the sun's age out over a calendar of 365

days Betelgeuse would have been born on

December 31st at 5 a.m. it's so damn

young that rocky planets like the earth

would likely not have had enough time to

her formed yet and frankly likely never

will

so Betelgeuse is a very young star but

in another sense it's actually an old

star at least when we compare it to how

long this star is expected to survive

so let's compare it to the Sun the Sun

can be thought of as middle-aged enough

fuel to last for another five billion

years before eventually evolving into a

short-lived giant phase and then finally

leaving behind a dead white dwarf

Betelgeuse on the other hand is running

on empty and it has in fact already

transformed into its giant phase you see

Betelgeuse has been very greedy during

its short life time it was born with a

whopping 15 times more mass than our own

Sun and ever since it got going it's

just been feasting through its fuel

supply like a bat out of hell the star

is a monster it spews out 100,000 times

more power than our own Sun does and

even before becoming a giant during its

main sequence lifetime that the Sun

currently enjoys it still even then

would have been spewing out tens of

thousands of times more power than our

own Sun you've probably heard the

expression the candle that burns twice

as hot lasts half as long well here we'd

say that the star that burns 10,000

times as bright lasts 1,000 times less

long although admittedly we are talking

about a star that began its life with at

least 10 times as much candle wax in the

first place

massive stars like Betelgeuse are

actually very rare just like animals

most develop into a fairly average size

for their species but

really you get a freakish set of

circumstances that somehow result in a

giant iced example and these giants

really stand out

in the same way Betelgeuse is a freak

because only 1 in 200 stars will be born

with as much mass inside them as

Betelgeuse was and not only is

Betelgeuse massive the fact that it's

enter disjoint phase means it's also

humongous to understand this gargantuan

term let's look inside a star a star has

two key zones the core where fusion

happens and the envelope which is

basically just hot gas sat on top as

stars fuse hydrogen into denser helium

inside their cause

they accumulate an inert inner core of

helium ash inside their centers now

because helium is denser than hydrogen

the core contracts which in turn causes

it to heat up eventually the central

temperature and pressure become extreme

enough that helium can now fuse into

carbon via the triple alpha process

which substantially increases the energy

output of the core and this in turn

causes the outer envelope of non fusing

hydrogen to simply puff up a bit like a

hot air balloon except that that balloon

has now puffed up to the size of

Jupiter's orbit around the Sun a

gargantuan size so this broadly

describes what's happening inside

Betelgeuse right now my it is as big as

it is but it will not stay in this state

forever because as it's accumulating now

carbon ash inside its core that

temperature and pressure will continue

to rise in the center eventually even

the carbon and heavier elements still

will be able to start fusing and once

this happens well the end is nigh for

beetle

we'll be looking at a few hundred years

perhaps a couple of millennia until its

demise

what happens to massive stars like

Betelgeuse when they die there are two

likely possibilities the one you are

probably hearing the most about is a

supernova remember that the core will

eventually start to fuse carbon and even

heavier elements in its center but once

it starts producing iron ash well the

gig is up

that's because fusing things heavier

than iron is what we would call an

endothermic reaction and all that means

is that you actually have to put in more

energy to conduct the reaction than you

get out the other end in other words

this reaction saps energy from the core

remember that this is a massive star and

so it has a huge self gravity trying to

collapse it in on itself when the heat

source starts to dwindle due to the

accumulation of this iron ash well

there's nothing to resist that

gravitational collapse anymore and so

the star literally falls in on itself

imploding it's at this point that the

two possible futures for Betelgeuse

diverge one is going to be a band and

the other is a whimper as this wave of

infalling material the outer envelope of

the star falls in towards the core due

to gravity one of two things is going to

happen either the core is gonna

structurally resist that in falling wave

and notice or bounce off the outside or

the core will not be up to resist and it

will simply crush down stars on the

lighter end of the massive star spectrum

around ten times the sun's mass will not

generate enough pressure to collapse the

inner core instead they'll merely

compress it into a super dense neutron

star state and then bounce off that

neutronic interior that bounce back

leads to a giant shock wave that

propagates out into space

releasing tremendous waves of energy and

spewing matter

across the void and that's what we call

a supernova or to be a little bit more

technical a core collapse supernova but

what if this star is heavier than ten

times the sun's mass well now there is a

lot more material falling down onto that

inner core so much so that it can

actually overwhelm even the resistive

strength of neutronic matter and so the

star will fall in crushing the core in

fact it will fall all the way in all the

way in to a singular point of infinite

density a black hole in some cases the

bounce-back still happens it forms a

neutron star but some of that wave of

bouncing out material ends up falling

back onto the neutron star and it just

tips the balance enough to turn that

neutron star into a black hole all the

same but in other cases there is so much

in falling material that the star just

literally implodes it winks out of

existence

there's no bounce-back there's no

stooping over

there's no bang of any kind it just

disappears this winking out has in fact

been seen before around 2010 astronomers

witnessed another red supergiant in the

galaxy NGC 6-9 46 simply disappear this

actually wasn't even noticed at the time

and it was only later that a couple of

astronomers at a higher state university

checked carefully through the archival

data and found this remarkable event now

that star was likely born with around 25

times more mass than the Sun as shown

here but lower mass red supergiant's in

the range of sort of ten to fifteen

times the mass of the Sun have been seen

to do the opposite and explode now if we

compare these observations to

theoretical more

it matches up quite nicely here you can

see a prediction for whether the star

will implode into a black hole winking

out or turn into a supernova in green

and this clearly depends on the stars

mass the outcome of these models shows

some randomness the rotation speed

metallicity and intrinsically stochastic

nature of the stars interior means that

we can't always predict exactly what

will happen based on a star's mass alone

and so this is why in part it's so

difficult to say exactly what will

happen to Betelgeuse this situation is

exacerbated by the fact we actually

don't know the mass of Betelgeuse and

certainly not the mass of Betelgeuse it

was born with and very well and that's

because in turn we don't even know a

precise distance for Betelgeuse and so

in turn this means that we end up with a

very large uncertainty on its mass so

comparing to the theoretical models one

can see how it's certainly possible that

Betelgeuse might just disappear one day

without a bank

okay so with this fascinating background

about these massive stars out of the way

we can now finally talk about what has

been happening with Betelgeuse over the

last few months the first thing to say

is that Betelgeuse is a variable star I

mean it is not surprising for his

brightness to change it's not a light

bulb it's brightness changes by a few

percent even ten percent quite often and

has been seen for decades now what's

really unusual about what's been

happening lately is that this is a

fairly constant and steep regular

decline in brightness which has gone

really quite deep down to one third of

its usual brightness and that is frankly

kind of weird I want to emphasize that

that number represents the minimum in

the stars a recent episode of dimming in

the last couple of weeks it has actually

started to stabilize and even reverse

brightening back up again the story gets

extra-spicy when we throw in these two

images of the star taken about a year

apart now normally it's impossible to

resolve individual stars like this but

some supergiant's are so big that we can

at least get a fuzzy image like this one

clearly Betelgeuse looks quite different

between these two photos and that fact

combined with the dimming has a lot of

folks quite worried so let's just ask

the obvious question that song

everybody's lips right now and that is

does this dimming of Betelgeuse mean

that it's about to go supernova sure

answer

probably not and there's a few reasons

for this first off we really don't have

any clear prediction that stars are

expected to undergo a period of dimming

before going supernova the hydro

dynamics of these stellar interiors is

very complicated and there's a intricate

feedback with gravity waves that

actually affects their luminosity output

in a fairly unpredictable way here's an

example of a prediction for the

luminosity of a star essentially how

bright is versus its surface temperature

in the final years before its death from

Professor Jim fuller the star's

luminosity is indeed sometimes dimming

but it is also often brightening - I

mean it's really all over the map we've

never really caught a supernova in the

act before at least in the days and

years preceding the event and so we

can't really tell you from data how

stars behave just before they go

supernova and so these models are really

kind of the best we have right now and

so frankly we just don't know how stars

behave just before going supernova we

don't know that it looks like what's

happening right now now in that model

prediction I showed you for the stars

pre supernova behavior what's being

shown here is the luminosity now it's

tempting to say that this widely

reported recent dimming translates

directly to a decrease in luminosity but

that's actually not true now these

reported dimming that we've been hearing

about have all been of the star's

brightness in the visible light part of

the spectrum but Betelgeuse like all

stars produces radiation are all

different wavelengths across the entire

electromagnetic spectrum and so if we

want to calculate luminosity we have to

actually add up all of that rightness

across the entire spectrum and that's

not what we observed with these dimming

it is not the luminosity

of the star fortunately of course there

is a way that we can get the luminosity

we just simply have to do these

observations at other parts of the

spectrum

apart from visible light and that's

exactly what astronomers have very

recently done infrared measurements

taken at the O'Brien Observatory in

Minnesota just last week showed that the

star has the same brightness in the

infrared as it did 50 years ago in other

words this dimming does not represent a

change in the star's overall power

output it's just limited to the visible

light part of the spectrum okay so maybe

we can take our fingers off the panic

button we don't seem to be in the regime

of a wildly varying star like Jim fuller

predictor but then how do we explain

this pronounced a visible light dimming

as well as the strange lopsided image

that was recently captured

[Music]

there are broadly two popular theories

to explain what's being going on with

beetlejuice recently if we are willing

to discount the supernova hypothesis

just for the moment the first is a giant

star spot if we look at the Sun we see

small sunspots quite often these are

regions where the sun's magnetic field

lines temporarily come together in a way

that inhibits convection of heat from

the sun's interior up to its surface

without that heat coming up to this part

of the surface well that patch of the

surface cools down it gets to about half

of its usual temperature and that in

turn means that it appears darker this

is very much analogous to how if you

pull a piece of iron out of a fire it

will glow red initially but then cool

down and stop growing now a spot or

collection of spots that is big enough

to block out about two-thirds of the

stars usual brightness would have to

therefore block out about two-thirds of

the star's surface at least the

hemisphere that we can see if the other

hemisphere is spot free then this means

that in total about 1/3 of the star

surface would have to be covered in

spots for the Sun spar certainly never

get so big or so numerous as to block

out anywhere near this much of the

surface other giant stars have been

recorded to do this in the past for

example the orange giant HD one two five

four five in a constellation Triangulum

has had its surface resolved with a

special technique called Doppler imaging

that clearly reveals sparse covering

about a quarter of the surface not quite

a third but close enough to show us that

this is at least a plausible explanation

now for the sun spots come and go on a

roughly 11-year cycle and at the peak of

this cycle about 1% of the star surface

is covered in spots which corresponds to

a fairly marginal change in the

luminosity of the star it actually only

increases

point zero seven percent and so stars

luminosities are fairly robust to

changes in their spot coverage when we

combine all these points together we can

kind of see how this spot hypothesis

could work then for Betelgeuse we can

explain the fact that luminosity doesn't

seem to be changing very much we can

explain the apparent dimming in the

visible part of the spectrum and we can

also explain that lopsided image all

with a single hypothesis now on the Sun

record that spots are caused by magnetic

field lines impeding convection these

spots are about the size of the earth

typically but if we zoom in there's

another effect at play here you can see

a much finer grain effect each one of

these little cells that you're looking

at is about the size of Texas what's

amazing is that this is real data from

Dacus not a simulation of our Sun and

here you can cleanly resolve the surface

at incredible detail each little bubble

that you can see is the top of a

convection cell and is usually called a

granule the variability you are seeing

is usually called granulation caused by

the convection of hot plasma beneath the

surface a bit like a lava lamp the size

of these granulation cells is directly

related to the strength of surface

gravity on these stars so for the Sun

nice out of the size of Texas and the

surface gravity is about 270 meters per

second square something like 27 28 times

earth gravity but for Betelgeuse because

it's so puffed up the surface gravity is

really pathetic it's just point zero

zero three meters per second squared

which is about three thousand times less

than the gravity I'm currently feeling

here on earth it's really quite

ridiculous and so because the gravity is

so weak on the surface of Betelgeuse

then these granulation cell

get really really big Beetlejuice

doesn't like to do anything small

there's some beautiful computer

simulations of the convection cell

behavior for such stars that I'm showing

you here it reveals just how

effervescent lively and bubbling the

exterior envelope truly is now sadly we

can't resolve the surface of Betelgeuse

as precisely as this with existing

telescopes

so let's downgrade the animation to the

sort of fuzziness that we'd see

realistically in watching this you

indeed see that granulation alone can

produce very large dark features on the

surface as well as creating lopsided

images in individual frames so all in

all I'd say that a fairly extreme

episode of this natural convection

behavior could be an explanation for

what has been happening recently with

Betelgeuse but I promised you two

possible explanations and the other one

is equally compelling now remember that

I said that the surface gravity on

Betelgeuse is pathetically weak and so

that might make you wonder hey if I was

stood on the surface of Betelgeuse could

I jump off into space could I achieve

escape velocity the escape velocity is

given by the following equation where G

is the surface gravity and R is the

radius of the object for the Sun this

gives about 600 kilometers per second so

you're gonna need a lot of energy to

ever leave the Sun surface on Betelgeuse

though it's about ten times less just 60

kilometers per second and so this raises

the possibility that a strong convulsion

from within the Stars interior could

have propagated out to the surface with

enough force to have actually flung off

the outer layer into deep space or at

least a part of it and once that layer

was dispatched from the star it would

have cooled down and eventually ended up

blocking out some of the star's light

essentially it's just dust we even see

some ever

for previous episodes of dust released

as you can see here in this real image

now with the giant spot scenario the

surface has actually cooled a little bit

but here the surface is essentially the

same temperature is just that there's

some dust getting in the way and so

recent work by astronomer Emily Levesque

investigated what the temperature of the

surface was using a spectral technique

they found that the star surface doesn't

appear consistent with an episode of

dramatic cooling and so on this basis

they favor the dust hypothesis and so

this leaves us with two quite compelling

explanations without the need to invoke

a supernova now because there's so much

we don't know about how stars behave in

those final years before turning into a

supernova then it is still absolutely

possible that what we are seeing are the

signs of an impending supernova but

typically stars spend about a hundred

thousand years in this phase of their

life and so it's just probabilistically

unlikely that that will coincide with

our short human lifetimes it's also a

shame because if Betelgeuse did go

supernova

it's 650 light years away which means

it's far enough away that it won't hurt

us but close enough that we would have

the opportunity to study in great detail

and learn so much about the final stages

of this enigmatic type of star of course

it would also put up a very nice light

show outshining even the full moon of

this peak brightness or it might just

wink out leaving behind a black hole

which would also be an incredible

observation to see

massive stars like Betelgeuse are

amazing yes they are unusual rare beasts

which are unlikely to ever form planets

let alone life but on the other hand

they are also somehow intimately

connected to us that's because it's

within these massive stellar engines

that many of the heavy elements inside

your body seems like phosphorus

potassium oxygen were forged deep within

its interior and when these stars came

to their end they violently exploded

these enriched guts across the cosmos

those newly forged heavy elements were

cast out across the galaxy to distant

shores because there was so much

hydrogen left and fused new smaller

stars formed from the debris which in

turn eventually formed planets enriched

with these heavier elements crucial for

life and those same elements are inside

of your body right now they were at one

point in their history

inside the powers of one of the most

massive stars in the universe you are in

essence made of ash and so watching

Betelgeuse is like getting to see one of

the earliest steps in the origin of

living things like looking into a mirror

of our own beginnings these stars

violently rip themselves apart in an

almost sacrificial act so that complex

chemical entities such as ourselves

might one day be born rising like a

phoenix fire flames

[Music]

[Music]