Related papers: The Betelgeuse Project: Constraints from Rotation
We study stellar models for Betelgeuse using the HR diagram and surface abundances as observational constraints. Previous studies on Betelgeuse have not systematically investigated the surface abundances, but we believe they can be impacted…
We conduct a rigorous examination of the nearby red supergiant Betelgeuse by drawing on the synthesis of new observational data and three different modeling techniques. Our observational results include the release of new, processed…
The evolved stages of massive stars are poorly understood, but invaluable constraints can be derived from spatially resolved observations of nearby red supergiants, such as Betelgeuse. Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)…
Betelgeuse has fascinated people since they first looked at the sky. Here we present a contemporary summary of the observations and theory that lead to our understanding of Betelgeuse as a massive red supergiant doomed to collapse and…
We investigate the merger between a 16 solar mass star, on its way to becoming a red supergiant (RSG), and a 4 solar mass main-sequence companion. Our study employs three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations using the state-of-the-art…
The nearby red supergiant (RSG) Betelgeuse has a complex circumstellar medium out to at least 0.5 parsecs from its surface, shaped by its mass-loss history within the past 0.1 Myr, its environment, and its motion through the interstellar…
We previously proposed that Betelgeuse might have been spun up by accreting a companion of about 1 solar mass. Here we explore in more detail the possible systematics of such a merger and a larger range of accreted masses. We use the…
We discuss the physics and the evolution of a typical massive star passing through an evolutionary stage similar to that of Betelgeuse. After a brief introduction recalling various observed parameters of Betelgeuse, we discuss the…
We examine a century of radial velocity, visual magnitude, and astrometric observations of the nearest red supergiant, Betelgeuse, in order to reexamine the century-old assertion that Betelgeuse might be a spectroscopic binary. These data…
We observed Betelgeuse using ALMA's extended configuration in band 7 (f~340 GHz, {\lambda}~0.88 mm), resulting in a very high angular resolution of 18 mas. Using a solid body rotation model of the 28SiO(v=2,J=8-7) line emission, we show…
We explore the possibility that the star alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse) is the outcome of a merger that occurred in a low mass ratio (q = M2/M1 = 0.07 - 0.25) binary system some time in the past hundreds of thousands of years. To that goal, we…
Betelgeuse is a well known bright red supergiant that shows semi-regular variations with four approximate periods of 2200, 420, 230, and 185 days. While the longest period was customarily regarded as LSP (long secondary period) of unknown…
B-type stars are known to rotate at various velocities, including very fast rotators near the critical velocity as the Be stars. In this paper, we provide stellar models covering the mass range between 1.7 to 15 Msun, which includes the…
We have constructed a series of non-rotating quasi-hydrostatic evolutionary models for the M2 Iab supergiant Betelgeuse ($\alpha~Orionis$). Our models are constrained by multiple observed values for the temperature, luminosity, surface…
After core hydrogen burning, massive stars evolve from blue-white dwarfs to red supergiants by expanding, brightening, and cooling within few millennia. We discuss a previously neglected constraint on mass, age, and evolutionary state of…
Betelgeuse, the bright, cool red supergiant in Orion, is moving supersonically relative to the local interstellar medium. The star emits a powerful stellar wind which collides with this medium, forming a cometary structure, a bow shock,…
The physical mechanism through which the outgoing material of massive red supergiants is accelerated above the escape velocity is unclear. Thanks to the transparency of its circumstellar envelope, the nearby red supergiant Betelgeuse gives…
A significant fraction of massive stars are moving supersonically through the interstellar medium (ISM), either due to disruption of a binary system or ejection from their parent star cluster. The interaction of their wind with the ISM…
Betelgeuse, the nearest red supergiant, dimmed to an unprecedented level in early 2020. The star emerged from this Great Dimming episode with its typical, roughly 400-day pulsation cycle halved, and a new dominant period of around 200 days.…
Recent analyses conclude that Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star (HD 39801), likely has a companion object with a period of about 2000 days orbiting at only 2.3 stellar radii, deep in the chromosphere of the supergiant. A probable detection…