Monday Bites: A Cosmic Candy

 A Cosmic Candy: Betelgeuse as captured by ALMA.

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/E. O’Gorman/P. Kervella

ALMA, or Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, is a network of 66 giant radio telescopes located deep inside the Atacama desert in Northern Chile tasked with observing the cosmos in millimeter/submillimeter wavelengths, electromagnetic jitters below the visible spectrum. In this photograph, you're looking at what has been dubbed as the highest resolution portrait of Betelgeuse, that bright red star on Orion's shoulder (left or right, on how you picture the immortal Hunter). Betelgeuse, a red giant star, is already on the verge of going supernova, projected to explode any moment from now or somewhere within the next hundred thousand years. However, a later date is more likely. At 600 light-years from Earth, when Betelgeuse finally goes supernova, the end-stage explosion will be visible to the naked eye, outshining the full moon. In our distant generations' night sky, Betelgeuse-gone-supernova will shine as the brightest star for days and months before it fades into the void. 

A thousand years ago, the untold arrival of a bright new star would've been taken as an act of the Divine. It makes you wonder where we'll be a thousand years from now. A hundred thousand years; let's not go in there, not today. 

This image was officially released by ESO on June 26, 2017.