Roiling Surface Plume of Betelgeuse Imaged

BJ_Covert_Action writes: Astronomy Now is running a piece regarding some new, exquisitely detailed pictures taken of Betelgeuse, a star in the constellation Orion. Betelgeuse is classified as a supergiant star and is approximately 1000 times the size of the sun. Two teams of astronomers used ESO's "Very large Telescope," its NACO instruments, and as an imaging technique known as "Lucky Imaging" to take some of the most detailed pictures of Betelgeuse to date.

The new pictures reveal a gas plume on the surface of Betelgeuse which extends from the surface of the star a distance greater than that between our sun and Neptune. The images also showed several other 'boiling' spots on the surface of Betelgeuse, revealing the surface to be quite tumultuous. Currently, it is known that stars of Betelgeuse's size eject the equivalent mass of the Earth into space every year. However, the mechanisms for said ejections is currently unknown. This recent astronomy work will help researchers determine the mechanics behind such ejections.