A supernova is a stellar explosion that can manifest itself in a very remarkable way, even with the naked eye. That is what appears to be happening to Betelgeuse . And we intuit this because the star is losing its brightness.
The star is much farther from Earth than the 50 light-year limit for radiation from an explosion of this magnitude to be lethal to life on our planet, but its brightness could be more than a hundred times brighter than that of Venus. , and would make it visible in the daytime sky.
Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse has a mass 12 times that of the Sun, that is, it would extend almost to the orbit of Jupiter, because it is a red supergiant 600 light years away .
Betelgeuse, the ninth brightest star in the sky and part of the constellation Orion, has faded in observations since October until fading to half its usual magnitude.
The reason for this loss of brightness could be the genesis of a supernova: with the fuel in its core that provided it energy exhausted and its size enormously increased, the star is destined to undergo a central implosion and a massive collapse and rebuild itself as a supernova. Type II .
The date for this cosmic event to take place is unknown.