> In astronomy, Betelgeuse is the name of which type of object?And the answer is: star. Artist rendering of Betelgeuse's supernova. Photo Courtesy: European SouthernObservatory/L. Calçada.Found in the Orion constellation, Betelgeuse is one ofthe brightest stars in the night sky. One of the largest known stars, Betelgeuseis a type of star known as a red supergiant, and is about 950 times the size ofour sun. There is recent evidence that the star's life cycle will end soon,resulting in a fiery explosion known as a supernova.The name Betelgeuse comes from Arabic, translating to “the giant’s shoulder.”Indeed, nestled right on Orion's shoulder, the star has burned its way into thelore and histories of sky-gazers across the globe, dating so far back that itearns mentions in the oral histories of Aboriginal Australians. At just 725 lightyears away, Betelgeuse is the one of the closest and brighteststars available for study. Even so, at such a distance, it takes around 600years for the light from Betelgeuse to reach Earth. This means that if the redgiant blew up in the European Middle Ages, the light would only now be reachingEarth!In 2019, astronomers began to buzz when it appeared that the red giant wasdimming– at the end of their life, stars often begin to vary in brightness andeventually drop to a dim glow before the bright supernova explosion. However,recent studies from NASA suggest that the dimming was not so much a supernovaevent but more a expulsion of heat– observations by NASA's Hubble SpaceTelescope suggest that hot material ejected into space by the star formed a dustcloud dense enough to block starlight. In the next 100,000 years, humanity will get a chance to witness Betelgeuse'sfiery end. Until then, scientists have a front row seat to the end of thisstar's life. To learn more about this supernova waiting to happen, check out thevideo below.