St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: November 30, 2021

Press release from St. Louis Science Center:

November 30, 2021

Tonight the bright red supergiant star Betelgeuse can be found rising in the east at 8 pm. It is thought to be 16 to 19 times the mass of the Sun which means Betelgeuse is a star destined to end in a supernova. At over 500 light years away, this poses no threat to Earth, but Betelgeuse will put on a show to be seen. Unfortunately, we have some time to wait as scientists think this will happen sometime in the next 100,000 years.

This press release was produced by St. Louis Science Center. The views expressed here are the author’s own.