Soon after the sun sets on winter nights, if you live in the northern hemisphere you can look into the sky and find the Orion constellation near the eastern horizon. Astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance has always been drawn to a particular star in Orion: Betelgeuse, a red supergiant nearing the end of it's life on the hunter's left shoulder.
Soon after the sun sets on winter nights, if you live in the northern hemisphere you can look into the sky and find the Orion constellation near the eastern horizon.
Astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance has always been drawn to a particular star in Orion: Betelgeuse,Soon after the sun sets on winter nights, if you live in the northern hemisphere you can look into the sky and find the Orion constellation near the eastern horizon. In Greek mythology, Orion is a legendary hunter. One myth says he was banished to the sky for boasting about how many animals he could kill.
He and his two hunting dogs eternally chase Taurus the bull and the Pleiades sisters as punishment — never able to catch them. Another myth says the goddess Artemis was tricked into killing Orion with her arrow and set his image in the stars. If you look up at the sky tonight, you might recognize Orion by the three stars that line up to make the hunter's belt.on the hunter's left shoulder.
El-Badry Nance says this star is nearing the end of its life, when it will explode as a supernova.
"They're regions of gas and dust that clump together because of gravity," El-Badry-Nance says. "And as the density of these regions pulls more and more gas and dust towards it, that pressure can cause them to collapse under their own weight and create what we call a protostar, which is sort of the nascent star. " Over time, these protostars begin fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores.
The energy from this process keeps stars from collapsing under their own weight.
"Their energy is released in the form of light that sort of shines through the star and that we see as star light or, in the case of our sun, sunlight," El-Badry Nance says. Stars spend the majority of their lifetimes in middle age, as it's the most stable part of their life cycle. Take the sun. It's a middle-aged star and scientists estimate it will continue to burn hydrogen for about another five billion years.
It enters the final stage of its life. At that point, the outer layers of the star expand and cool, turning it into a swollen, bloated star. Betelgeuse is an example of a star at the end of its life, and El-Badry Nance says that since it's so big, it's going to have a dramatic death.doesAcross the life and inevitable death of these beloved stars, El-Badry Nance says there are important life lessons to learn.
"First and foremost: Everything changes. Right? There's nothing static in the universe, really — even though it might feel that way because those timescales are so much longer than our own," she says.
"We all sort of undergo these periods of turbulence and chaos and out of that can come something really beautiful. " Today's episode was produced by Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Brit Hanson checked the facts. Ko Takasugi-Czernowin was the audio engineers.
Please follow us on Google to support usUnited States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News: You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Sen. Eric Schmitt warns of 'hammer-and-sickle wave' reshaping Democratic PartySen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., warned that a surge of 'radical leftist communists' within the Democratic Party, exemplified by figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, will dominate the party's 2028 presidential primary. He cited recent events in New York as a 'flashing red light' and criticized the party's direction.
Read more »
Houston Rockers ORION 224 Grow Up and Into Their Sound • The Austin ChronicleHouston Rockers ORION 224 Grow Up and Into Their Sound
Read more »
Moana Review: The Same Wave Rolls Back Around • The Austin ChronicleMoana Review: The Same Wave Rolls Back Around
Read more »
Plot twist: We're probably way undercounting insects on Earth : Short WaveMaybe you’ve wondered about it late at night as a mosquito buzzes in your ear. Or when you kick over a rock and watch dozens of little critters crawl away: How many types of insects are there in the world? Scientists have been interested in answering this question for years.
Read more »