The flames of Betelgeuse
This picture of the dramatic nebula around the bright red supergiant star Betelgeuse was created from images taken with the VISIR infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). This structure, resembling flames emanating from the star, forms because the behemoth is shedding its material...
Betelgeuse in Orion (with annotations)
This collage shows the Orion constellation in the sky (Betelgeuse is identified by the marker), a zoom towards Betelgeuse, and the sharpest ever image of this supergiant star, which was obtained with NACO on ESO’s Very Large Telescope.
A close look at Betelgeuse
Image of the supergiant star Betelgeuse obtained with the NACO adaptive optics instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The use of NACO combined with a so-called “lucky imaging” technique, allowed the astronomers to obtain the sharpest ever image of Betelgeuse, even with Earth’s turbulent,...
Digitized Sky Survey image of Betelgeuse
This image is a colour composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The field of view is approximatelly 2.0 x 1.5 degrees.
Betelgeuse captured by ALMA
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...
Image of Betelgeuse’s surface taken in December 2019
The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, in the constellation of Orion, underwent an unprecedented dimming in late 2019 and early 2020. This stunning image of the star’s surface was taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in December 2019, and is one of the images taken during...
Image of Betelgeuse’s surface taken in March 2020
The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, in the constellation of Orion, underwent an unprecedented dimming in late 2019 and early 2020. This stunning image of the star’s surface was taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in March 2020, and is one of the images taken during an...
Image of Betelgeuse’s surface taken in January 2020
The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, in the constellation of Orion, underwent an unprecedented dimming in late 2019 and early 2020. This stunning image of the star’s surface was taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in January 2020, and is one of the images taken during...
Image of Betelgeuse’s surface taken in January 2019
When the red supergiant star Betelgeuse became visibly darker in late 2019 and early 2020, astronomers were puzzled. This image of the star was taken before Betelgeuse started to fade, using the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. When compared with later images, taken in December...
SPHERE’s view of Betelgeuse in January 2019
The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, in the constellation of Orion, has been undergoing unprecedented dimming. This stunning image of the star’s surface was taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in January 2019, before the star started to dim. When compared with the...
SPHERE's view of Betelgeuse in December 2019
The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, in the constellation of Orion, has been undergoing unprecedented dimming. This stunning image of the star’s surface, taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope late last year, is among the first observations to come out of an observing...
A raw image straight from the VISIR instrument on the VLT
As the instrument observes in the thermal infrared, the individual exposures are extremely short, and the final image are obtained by combining hundreds, or even thousands, or individual snapshots obtained at slightly different positions. This technique allows the astronomers to beat the...
Betelgeuse’s dust plumes seen by VISIR image
This image, obtained with the VISIR instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows the infrared light being emitted by the dust surrounding Betelgeuse in December 2019. The clouds of dust, which resemble flames in this dramatic image, are formed when the star sheds its material back into...
Dim, but still distinct
This image of the spiral galaxy UGC 11105 is not as bright and vivid as some other Hubble Pictures of the Week. This softly luminous galaxy — lying in the constellation Hercules, about 110 million light-years from Earth — seems outshone by the sparkling foreground stars that surround it. The...
The biggest star in the sky
This is an IR Observation of R Doradus, a variable star in the constellation of Dorado (the Swordfish), located in the far southern sky. R Doradus is a variable star with a period of about 338 days, changing its magnitude from approximately 4.8 at maximum (when it is visible with the unaided...
ILLUSTRATION OF OUTBURST FROM BETELGEUSE
ONE SCENARIO THAT LED TO THE STAR BETELGEUSE'S 'GREAT DIMMING' EVENT
The Atmosphere of Betelgeuse
This is the first direct image of a star other than the Sun, made with the Hubble Space Telescope. Called Alpha Orionis, or Betelgeuse, it is a red supergiant star marking the shoulder of the winter constellation Orion the Hunter. The Hubble image reveals a huge ultraviolet atmosphere with a...
Wide-field view of Betelgeuse (ground-based image)
This image is a colour composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). It shows the area around the red supergiant star Betelgeuse.
Exoplanet is Extremely Hot and Incredibly Close (Artist's Concept)
Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have detected what they believe is an alien world just two-thirds the size of Earth one of the smallest on record. The exoplanet candidate, known as UCF-1.01, orbits a star called GJ 436, which is located a mere 33 light-years away. UCF-1.01 might...
Orions Big Head Revealed in Infrared
Orions head in the Orion constellation is represented by the star Lamdba Orionis. When viewed in infrared light, NASAs Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, reveals a giant nebula around Lambda Orionis, inflating Orions head to huge proportions.
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