Related papers: Will Betelguese Explode?
Betelgeuse is an example of a cool super-giant displaying brightness fluctuations and irregular surface structures. Simulations by Freytag et al. (2002) of the convective envelope of the star have shown that the fluctuations in the star's…
Understanding how massive stars die as supernovae is a crucial question in modern astrophysics. Supernovae are powerful stellar explosions and key drivers in the cosmic baryonic cycles by injecting their explosion energy and heavy elements…
When a massive star reaches the end of its lifetime, its core collapses and releases neutrinos that drive a shock into the outer layers (stellar envelope). A sufficiently strong shock ejects the envelope, producing a supernova. If the shock…
Betelgeuse, a nearby red supergiant, is a runaway star with a powerful stellar wind that drives a bow shock into its surroundings. This picture has been challenged by the discovery of a dense and almost static shell that is three times…
Betelgeuse is an important variable star with many observations in the AAVSO database, but there is an annual gap of about four months where Betelgeuse is close to the sun and not observable at night. This gap could be filled with daylight…
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…
On 12 December 2023, the star $\alpha$ Orionis (Betelgeuse) will be occulted by the asteroid (319) Leona. This represents an extraordinary and unique opportunity to analyze the diameter and brightness distribution of Betelgeuse's…
The Star of Bethlehem is only known from a few verses in the Gospel of Matthew, with the Star inspiring and leading the Magi (i.e., Persian astrologers) to Jerusalem and ultimately worshipping the young Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. In the…
The mean light curve of Betelgeuse is constructed from the visual data in BAA VSS and AAVSO archives. Period analysis reveals clusters of periods around 2000 and 400 days but these are swamped by the long-term trends. No identifiable…
The circumstellar medium around massive stars is strongly impacted by stellar winds, radiation, and explosions. We use numerical simulations of these interactions to constrain the current properties and evolutionary history of various stars…
We present Hubble Space Telescope imaging confirming the optical disappearance of the failed supernova (SN) candidate identified by Gerke et al. (2015). This $\sim 25~M_{\odot}$ red supergiant experienced a weak $\sim 10^{6}~L_{\odot}$…
The cool hypergiant star RW Cephei is currently in a deep photometric minimum that began several years ago. This event bears a strong similarity to the Great Dimming of the red supergiant Betelgeuse that occurred in 2019-2020. We present…
The dynamics of the surface and inner atmosphere of the red supergiant star Betelgeuse are the subject of numerous high angular resolution and spectroscopic studies. Here, we present three-telescope interferometric data obtained at 11.15…
We investigate the possibility of a supernova in supermassive ($5 \times 10^4 \;M_\odot$) population III stars induced by a general relativistic instability occurring in the helium burning phase. This explosion could occur via rapid helium…
The post-helium burning evolution of stars from 7 to 11 solar masses is complicated by the lingering effects of degeneracy and off-center ignition. Here stars in this mass range are studied using a standard set of stellar physics. Two…
Most supernova explosions accompany the death of a massive star. These explosions give birth to neutron stars and black holes and eject solar masses of heavy elements. However, determining the mechanism of explosion has been a half-century…
Betelgeuse, the bright red supergiant (RSG) in Orion, is a runaway star. Its supersonic motion through the interstellar medium has resulted in the formation of a bow shock, a cometary structure pointing in the direction of motion. We…
Core-collapse supernovae are one of the most energetic events in the universe ($10^{46} J$). When a massive star (M $>$ 8 M$_{\odot}$) ignites its last fusion stage where silicon fusion makes iron, its end is then very close. Basically, the…
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…
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)…