However, while the occultation of a star by an asteroid is typically a millisecond event, Betelgeuse is enormous—about 750 times the sun’s diameter. So, over about 12 seconds, the asteroid ...

To give a sense of scale, if Betelgeuse were placed at the center of our solar system, its surface would extend beyond the ...

The story describes Betelgeuse as “the red giant that marks Orion’s left shoulder.” Reader Chris Jespersen wrote: “I often see Betelgeuse on Orion’s right shoulder…. Am I mistaken?” ...

For a star so big, roughly 2,000 times bigger than our Sun ... places Betelgeuse’s photosphere—the star’s outer shell—at about the same radius as the orbit of Jupiter, when compared ...