Betelgeuse

Stars don’t usually evolve fast enough for humans to notice them change within one lifetime. Even a hundred lifetimes won’t do – astronomical processes are just too slow. But not always. There are some phases of stellar evolution that…

The red hypergiant star VY Canis Majoris, 4,000 light-years distant, is in a turbulent phase near the end of its life. Wracked by pulsations, it is expelling mass in a series of dusty knots and arcs. And thanks to the high resolution of…