A Dying Star One Thousand Times Bigger Than The Sun Could Soon Explode

One of the brightest stars in the sky has been noticeably getting dimmer. Betelgeuse, a reddish star that is part of the Orion constellation, may be entering a pre-supernova phase - where it gets fainter before collapsing in a fiery explosion. A supernova is a powerful stellar explosion that occurs when a star 'dies'.

According to a report in Slate, over the last few months, Betelgeuse has gone from being the 12th brightest star in the sky to about the 20th. Located 642.5 light-years from Earth, this star, if it explodes, could be the closest supernova observed by humans.

The Strangest Star In The Sky Finally Has An Explanation For Its Flicker

Fourteen hundred light-years separate Earth from the strangest star in the sky. The light from this star flickers, like a giant neon sign drifting through the constellation Cygnus. After the star's dim intervals, which last for days or weeks, it brightens again. No other star acted this way. No observation could explain its behavior. That is, until now. A 200-strong team of scientists says it has arrived at an answer, thanks to an astronomy project crowdfunded on Kickstarter. The culprits are not aliens, as some people have speculated, but probably a cloud of dust, each particle less than a micrometer across. Combined, these dust particles coalesced into one of the biggest question marks in recent astronomical memory.