Friday, January 8, 2010

APOD 2.7

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100106.html
The Spotty Surface of Betelgeuse

This picture was taken in Paris of the red supper giant or actually known as Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is a really big star so big that in comparison to our star, if we put it in the middle of our solar system it would reach Jupiter. Because most stars only look like single dots even in large telescopes astronomers used interferometry to take this picture. This picture was taken at infrared wavelengths. In this picture there are two brights spots, big convective cells. These cells are rising from below the star's surface. They are bright because like lava coming out of a volcano they are hotter than the rest of the star. This is a really amazing picture when you take into acount that this star is about 600 light-years away.

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