Betelgeuse's Big Bang: When Will It Happen?

However, it seems that betelgeuse is experiencing differential rotation, with some layers moving faster than others. It is an unusual occurrence in a red supergiant and may point. When is it going to happen? Astronomers warn that predicting supernova events is very difficult. When betelgeuse eventually does explode it will be an astronomical event of epic proportions visible from earth, illuminating the sky for weeks or even months.

Observation of the red supergiant star, betelgeuse, revealed a vast plume of gas almost as large as our solar system and a gigantic bubble boiling on its surface. Its currently in the final stages of its life as a red supergiant meaning that when the innermost core begins fusing silicon and sulfur into iron, nickel and cobalt, the star.