Betelgeuse captured by ALMA

Eso_potw1726a_1024

eso_potw1726a June 26th, 2017

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/E. O’Gorman/P. Kervella

This orange blob shows the nearby star Betelgeuse, as seen by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). This is the first time that ALMA has ever observed the surface of a star and this first attempt has resulted in the highest-resolution image of Betelgeuse available. Betelgeuse is one of the largest stars currently known — with a radius around 1400 times larger than the Sun’s in the millimeter continuum. About 600 light-years away in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), the red supergiant burns brightly, causing it to have only a short life expectancy. The star is just about eight million years old, but is already on the verge of becoming a supernova. When that happens, the resulting explosion will be visible from Earth, even in broad daylight. The star has been observed in many other wavelengths, particularly in the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope astronomers discovered a vast plume of gas almost as large as our Solar System. Astronomers have also found a gigantic bubble that boils away on Betelgeuse’s surface. These features help to explain how the star is shedding gas and dust at tremendous rates (eso0927, eso1121). In this picture, ALMA observes the hot gas of the lower chromosphere of Betelgeuse at sub-millimeter wavelengths — where localised increased temperatures explain why it is not symmetric. Scientifically, ALMA can help us to understand the extended atmospheres of these hot, blazing stars. Links: Size comparison: Betelgeuse and the Sun Scientific paper

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1726a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Betelgeuse
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Red Supergiant
Eso_potw1726a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 5h 55m 10.3s
DEC = 7° 24’ 25.4”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
0.0 x 0.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Orion

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange ALMA (Band 7) Millimeter (338 GHz) 890.0 µm
Spectrum_ir1
Orange
Eso_potw1726a_1280
×
ID
potw1726a
Subject Category
B.3.1.5  
Subject Name
Betelgeuse
Credits
ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/E. O’Gorman/P. Kervella
Release Date
2017-06-26T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1726a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
Instrument
Band 7
Color Assignment
Orange
Band
Millimeter
Bandpass
338 GHz
Central Wavelength
890000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
88.792938991, 7.407063995
Reference Dimension
4000.0, 4000.0
Reference Pixel
2000.0, 2000.0
Scale
-9.96520301372e-08, 9.96520301372e-08
Rotation
-0
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
potw1726a
Metadata Date
2023-10-11T09:20:31.788958
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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