Will Betelgeuse, the bright red giant star, blow up in your lifetime?

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Space technology

Concept :

By examining Betelgeuse’s pulsation, researchers from Japan and Switzerland recently reported that the star is in its late carbon-burning stage.

About Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star and one of the largest visible to the naked eye.
The bright red star Betelgeuse, called ‘Thiruvathirai’ or ‘Ardra’ in Indian astronomy, is easily spotted in the constellation Orion.
In 1920, Betelgeuse became the first extrasolar star whose photosphere’s angular size was measured.
Starting in October 2019, Betelgeuse began to dim noticeably but then returned to a more normal brightness range in April 2023.
Infrared suggest that the dimming was due to a change in extinction around the star rather than a more fundamental change.
A study using the Hubble Space Telescope suggests that occluding dust was created by a surface mass ejection.

What is carbon burning stage?

Carbon burning is the stage at which a star fuses carbon inside its core, making heavier elements such as neon and magnesium.
Carbon burning eventually occurs in all stars that start out with more than about eight solar masses.
By examining its pulsation (the periodic contraction and expansion of the star) researchers from Japan and Switzerland recently reported that the star is in its late carbon-burning stage.
In massive stars like Betelgeuse, the carbon-burning stage lasts only up to a few hundreds of years, after which the star ‘dies’ and collapses into a supernova within a few months.