Betelgeuse: A Giant Red Star

The star Betelgeuse is a very different type of star from the brilliant bluish-white or white Orion stars. It is reddish in color and varies irregularly in brightness. Its distance from the earth is only about 160 light years as compared with a distance of over six hundred light years for Rigel, the three stars in the Belt, the stars in the Sword of Orion, and other Orion stars. Betelgeuse is one of the red giant stars and it has a diameter of over two hundred million miles. If placed at the center of our solar system in place of our own sun it would nearly fill all of the space within the orbit of Mars, and our own Earth would lie beneath its surface.

Yet there are now known to be giant stars that are even bulkier than Betelgeuse. Antares, in Scorpio, with a diameter of four hundred million miles and Mira, or Omicron Ceti, with a diameter of about two hundred and fifty million miles, both exceed Betelgeuse in size. The star in the Belt of Orion that lies farthest to the west is almost directly on the celestial equator so that it passes through the zenith at the Earth's equator, and the constellation is seen equally well in the northern and southern hemispheres. South of the equator, though, the warrior appears to be standing in an inverted position with his feet directed toward the zenith and his head toward the horizon.

Orion will be visible throughout the winter and early spring, disappearing in the west soon after sunset in early May as Scorpio rises in the southeast. Possibly for this reason the story originated among the ancients that the sky-warrior was fleeing from The Scorpion. Apollo, so it was said, once sent Scorpio to sting Orion as a punishment for falling in love with the Goddess Diana. Through her intercession he was placed in the heavens opposite The Scorpion so that he might escape in the west as soon as Scorpio came into view in the east.

As Orion stands in threatening attitude facing Taurus his two dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor, are close at his heels. If the line of stars that forms the Belt of Orion is continued toward the southeast it will pass not far from Sirius, The Dog-Star, brightest of all the stars. The Little Dog-Star, lies to the northeast of Sirius and although less brilliant by far than Sirius it is one of the twenty brightest stars in the heavens. With Sirius and Betelgeuse it forms a large triangle with sides nearly equal in length.

By: davidbunch

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