¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 May 11 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Behind Betelgeuse Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Adam Block, [4]Steward Observatory, University of Arizona Explanation: What's behind Betelgeuse? One of the brighter and more unusual stars in the sky, the [5]red supergiant star Betelgeuse can be found in the direction of famous constellation Orion. [6]Betelgeuse, however, is actually [7]well in front of many of the constellation's other bright stars, and also in front of the greater [8]Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. Numerically, light takes about 700 years to reach us from Betelgeuse, but about 1,300 [9]years to reach us from the [10]Orion Nebula and its surrounding dust and gas. All but the largest telescopes [11]see Betelgeuse as only a point of light, but a point so bright that the [12]inherent blurriness created by the telescope and [13]Earth's atmosphere make it seem extended. In the [14]featured long-exposure image, thousands of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy can be seen in the background behind Betelgeuse, as well as dark dust from the [15]Orion Molecular Cloud, and some red-glowing emission from hydrogen gas on the outskirts of the more distant [16]Lambda Orionis Ring. [17]Betelgeuse has recovered from [18]appearing unusually dim over the past six months, but is still expected to explode in a [19]spectacular supernova sometime in the next (about) 100,000 years. Tomorrow's picture: little harp meteors __________________________________________________________________ [20]< | [21]Archive | [22]Submissions | [23]Index | [24]Search | [25]Calendar | [26]RSS | [27]Education | [28]About APOD | [29]Discuss | [30]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [31]Robert Nemiroff ([32]MTU) & [33]Jerry Bonnell ([34]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [35]Specific rights apply. [36]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [37]ASD at [38]NASA / [39]GSFC & [40]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2005/betelgeuse_block_2662.jpg 3. https://www.adamblockphotos.com/ 4. http://www.as.arizona.edu/ 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_supergiant_star 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD-5ZOipE48 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Molecular_Cloud_Complex 9. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/ 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191030.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200101.html 12. https://telescopeschool.com/telescope-magnification-guide-where-does-it-get-blurry/ 13. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/atmosphere-layers2.html 14. https://www.adamblockphotos.com/betelgeuse.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200329.html 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh2-264 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200217.html 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse#/media/File:Betelgeuse_AAVSO_2019.jpg 19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJPVuSNFxlY 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200510.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 29. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200511 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200512.html 31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 33. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 34. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 36. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 37. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 38. https://www.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 40. http://www.mtu.edu/