Betelgeuse a supernova in the near future

For a long time, observers noted that the brightest stars in the constellation Orion forms a nearly symmetrical model together. This huge geometric group is sometimes called Winter Hexagon composed of straight lines from Sirius to Procyon to Pollux, Capella, Aldebaran and Rigel, and within the geometric model, is Betelgeuse.
The most famous star of the constellation Orion is not Rigel, but Betelgeuse for its strange name and its orange color. It is a red giant . This star is compared with the color of Mars and its brightness varies because some years it shines much more than others. From this fact we are assuming for this star to become a supernova soon.

A region of the sky that I do not recognize because I pointed the telescope at random in the sky, but in the galactic plane.

Telescope: Celestron 8 inch Newtonian
C5/EQ5 motorized mount
Camera: Nikon D80 ring T
Eye: not (focal)
Filter: no
Date: October 21, 2012
Time: 06:26
Mode: manual
ISO: 1250
Exposure time: 30 sec
Location: Baia Mare, Romania

LinkedIn comments to this post:

Sharon Xuesong Wang •Hi Lupu,
Pretty plots! Would you mind sharing about how you've become an astronomy photographer with the group? Please forgive my ignorance, but I'm wondering if how one can become an professional astronomy photographer for a living... Are you currently doing that?
I think that would be of more interest to the group. ;)
Thanks!
Sharon

Lupu Victor •I work in military. I like astronomy and this is my second job in my life. And this second job takes all of my free time, but I like that. Thanks for your question.


Megan Donahue •Interesting fact : when Betelgeuse has its supernova, it will be visible to us on Earth night ...or day (as long as it is above the horizon). The supernova will not give much warning, though. Once it has an iron core (invisible to us) it will only have a few short hours of life left.
Sharon - professional astrophotographers' best bets are to take large-angle images of the sky and request royalties for their use or sell as posters. With targeted images of small things, they are in competition with free images available from the Hubble Space Telescope or others. For most, it has to be a labor of love at least at first.

Harold Henderson •For a Red Supergiant like Betelguese 100 milion years is a "lifetime". But still, an imminent supernova might be thousands of years (plus 1500 years for light to travel here) away. Keep watching and good luck!

David Windschitl •If it should happen in our lifetimes, I will mourn my red winter 'friend' - both the color and the name made it one of my favorites when I started out stargazing.

Leela Kalyanaraman •But Richard, I thought a fair estimate would be from yesterday to 10,000 years? And Harold, Betelgeuse isn't that many light years away, is it?
David, Orion would be himself without a shoulder, would he??:-(

Gregory Roberts •direct parallax measurements put Betelgeuse as close as 495 ly, others at about 640 ly - but the accepted average is about 570 ly

Personally I think it would be pretty cool to see it nova, I look at it every clear night when its up wondering if the flash is just a few hours away

Posted in: DSLR telescope pictures,Stars,Stars-Betelgeuse