How big is Betelgeuse.
2006-12-18 06:04:39 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Betelgeuse, like all the stars you can see, is in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant with a mass of about 15 times that of the Sun, but its diameter is many more times the Sun's than that. The exact diameter is hard to define because it appears different sizes in different wavelengths, and is probably embedded in a huge cloud of gas and dust that has been blown off the star. It also pulsates, swelling and shrinking in a 5.7 year cycle. It is, however, one star that is large enough and close enough to actually be resolved by telescopes.
Its diameter in red light appears about 7.6 AU, which would put it into the middle of the asteroid belt if it were where the Sun is, but emissions in other wavelengths extend much further. In the ultraviolet it extends as far out as the orbit of Neptune.
2006-12-18 06:23:06 · answer #1 · answered by injanier 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Every single star you see is in the milky way galaxy.
There are 2 galaxies that are visible with the naked eye, but they are very fuzzy and no individual stars can be discerned. One is Andromeda.
The milky way galaxy is about 100,000 light years across. Andromeda is 2 million light years away. So you can see it would be hard to see stars in it.
Betelgeuse is 15 times as massive as the sun and the radius is 650 times as big as the sun's radius.
For simple questions like "How big is...?" you can get an answer immediately by going to wikipedia or simply typing the question at yahoo.com.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse
2006-12-18 06:07:12 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Betelgeuse is a Red Giant star. It is in our own Galaxy (The Milky Way). See it in the constellation of Orion. It is a 0.5 Variable magnitude star. I don't know the mass. Betelgeuse means "armpit of the mighty one"
2006-12-18 07:18:59 · answer #3 · answered by WINGER 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Betelgeuse is in the Milky way, and its diameter is about 500-800 times larger than our sun's. It's absolutely enormous! If Betelgeuse were in our solar system, its outer surface would be somewhere around the orbit of Jupiter.
2006-12-18 06:15:36 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Betelgeuse is a so called Red Giant (a star in its last cycle of life). This Giant is to be seen in the figure (constellation) called Orion as the left "shoulder". It even appears reddish for the unaided eye.
Why is that?
Because it so incredible big, we can hardly imagine ... Though ist has not mich mor than about 5 or 6 times tha mass of our sun, it has already fully expanded to a size as big as our whole solar system ... that's why it is called "Red Giant".
2006-12-18 10:11:41 · answer #5 · answered by jhstha 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Milky Way. At least 300 times the size as our Sol
2006-12-18 08:41:52 · answer #6 · answered by paulbritmolly 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
all stars that you can see are in our Milky-way Galaxy. any other objects which you would be able to see that are not in our galaxy are other galaxies.
2006-12-18 06:18:08 · answer #7 · answered by F-A 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If you see something that is not in our galaxy, it is probably another galaxy. If you see a star it is in our galaxy.
2006-12-18 06:11:11 · answer #8 · answered by smartprimate 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
if it was placed where our sun is it would go out to Jupiter. milky way
2006-12-18 09:56:24 · answer #9 · answered by brandon_fargerson 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ours... the Milky Way.
2006-12-18 06:38:55 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋