ALMA finds a hotspot on Betelgeuse that has stayed put for at least seven years
New ALMA images of Betelgeuse, captured in 2023, show a corrugated surface, rising plasma and bright hotspots on the red supergiant. Comparing them with 2015 data, the team found a hotspot in the star's northeast that has lasted at least seven years, far longer than current stellar models allow.
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Reported development
ALMA finds a hotspot on Betelgeuse that has stayed put for at least seven years New ALMA images of Betelgeuse, captured in 2023, show a corrugated surface, rising plasma and bright hotspots on the red supergiant. Comparing them with 2015 data, the team found a hotspot in the star's northeast that has lasted at least seven years, far longer than current stellar models allow. Betelgeuse lies about 600 light-years away, carries around 20 times the Sun's mass and is swollen to about 800 times its size. Its atmosphere sits near 2,030 degrees Celsius, with at least two regions hotter still, one of them 530 degrees Celsius above the surrounding plasma.[1]
Details in the report
New ALMA images of Betelgeuse, captured in 2023, show a corrugated surface, rising plasma and bright hotspots on the red supergiant. Comparing them with 2015 data, the team found a hotspot in the star's northeast that has lasted at least seven years, far longer than current stellar models allow. Betelgeuse lies about 600 light-years away, carries around 20 times the Sun's mass and is swollen to about 800 times its size. Its atmosphere sits near 2,030 degrees Celsius, with at least two regions hotter still, one of them 530 degrees Celsius above the surrounding plasma. Team leader Bill Dent of the European Southern Observatory said the star's eventual fate as a supernova makes its present appearance worth knowing. The work has been accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics and posted on arXiv.[1]
Additional context
ALMA finds a hotspot on Betelgeuse that has stayed put for at least seven years New ALMA images of Betelgeuse, captured in 2023, show a corrugated surface, rising plasma and bright hotspots on the red supergiant. Comparing them with 2015 data, the team found a hotspot in the star's northeast that has lasted at least seven years, far longer than current stellar models allow. Team leader Bill Dent of the European Southern Observatory said the star's eventual fate as a supernova makes its present appearance worth knowing. The work has been accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics and posted on arXiv.[1]
