Betelgeuse Star Spins Faster Than Its Size; 'Boiling Motion' Captured in Simulation [See Photo]

Snapshots from a simulation of the Betelgeuse star showed two colors. According to a report, the colors determine the direction the supergiant star's regions are heading.

Betelgeuse Simulation Shows Boiling Motion

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star in the constellation Orion. Recent examinations have raised questions, implying that it is rotating at a rate far quicker than one would expect for a star of its size.

Jing-Ze Ma, a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, and his team may have an answer for Betelgeuse's seemingly infinitely fast rotation. According to the experts, it could be an illusion brought up by the star's intensely boiling surface.

Ma and colleagues believe that even with the most sophisticated telescopes, the boiling surface of the star could be misinterpreted for rotation. Because of this error, observers may conclude that Betelgeuse, which is 500-600 light-years away from Earth, is rotating more quickly than the possible speed of a star its size.

"For most people, stars are just glowing dots in the sky. Our results highlight again that stars like Betelgeuse have such drastic boiling motions on the surface that we can see those motions in action in the telescopes," Ma explained. "As theorists, we are very excited that we can actually make predictions from our simulations that will be tested against observations in years to come."

The notorious red supergiant star Betelgeuse made headlines recently when scientists surmised that it might be on the verge of exploding due to its dimming.

Selma de Mink, research coauthor and director at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, added that in the night sky, most stars are merely small points of light. With the best telescopes, Betelgeuse is one of the few stars where they can truly watch and study its boiling surface because it is so big and close by.

Mink described the 3D radiation hydrodynamic simulations as "a bit of science fiction movie." She added that the results were "so exciting."

In 90% of the simulations, Betelgeuse reportedly rotates tens of thousands of miles per hour. The simulation showed two colors -- blue and red.

The blue patches are reportedly the regions of the supergiant star heading away from Earth, while the red regions are the areas moving toward our planet.

Betelgeuse Going Supernova?

Betelgeuse has shown unexpected behavior. It has dimmed and resembled Orion's third-brightest star, Bellatrix. The red star brightens again, suggesting it recuperates from the "great dimming."

For a few days in 2023, Betelgeuse shone brighter than any star in Orion that astronomers had ever observed. It was questioned in both cases whether it would blow up and vanish.

Stars are remarkably stable in general. They glitter with the same intensity year after year. There are, however, a few exceptions, and certain stars experience brightness variations.

These stars are referred to as variable stars. The most famous variable star is Mira, often known as the "star of wonder," discovered in 1596 by German priest David Fabricius. It periodically shrinks, expands, and pulses.

Sometimes, Betelgeuse shines notably fainter than Rigel, the fourth-brightest blue star in the constellation, while other times, it can glow almost as brightly. Similar to Mira's but not as strong or steady, pulses come and go.

However, stars sometimes see brief flashes of extremely bright light. The most colorful and rarest stars are supernovas, produced when a full star explodes to annihilate itself.

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