The lower figure on the right was obtained from the Universe:Origins and Evolution Homepage. The upper figure on the right is an image of the massive supergiant star Betelgeuse captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.. The star is only 10 million years old, compared to the sun's 4.5 billionWhich part of the life cycle is the star in currently:Rigel is on the main sequence stage of its life. Betelgeuse is generally the ninth-brightest star in the night sky and second-brightest in the constellation of Orion (after Rigel).It is a distinctly reddish, semiregular variable star whose apparent magnitude varies between +0.0 and +1.3, the widest range of any first-magnitude star.At near-infrared wavelengths, Betelgeuse is the brightest star in the night sky. Betelgeuse is a truly immense star . Weird, dimming star Betelgeuse may have a dusty explanation. Rigel Radius:Around 75 times the radius of the Sun.Size: 54.29 million kmHow old the star is:Rigel is only around 8 million years old and has already exhausted the supply of hydrogen in its core. It is still true: Astronomers expect Betelgeuse to explode as a supernova within the next 100,000 years when its core collapses. Stage 3 Stage 2 Main Sequence Protostar Definition: Group in the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram that stars are apart of during the main hydrogen-burning phase Definition: Early stage in the development of stars that the particles from a nebula have combined into a small volume During each cycle, dark spots appear on the surface of Betelgeuse, similar to the sunspots sometimes seen on the sun, but far, far larger. Back to the Stellar Life Cycle Flow Chart The mottled surface of Betelgeuse, a vast and ancient star approaching the end of its long life cycle.

It is in fact one of the largest stars known, with a diameter up to one thousand times that of the Sun . This means that the star isn't, as some had hoped, about to go supernova; in fact, it's a pretty well-understood event for a star of Betelgeuse's advanced age. "We see this all the time in red supergiants, and it's a normal part of their life cycle," said astronomer Emily Levesque of the University of Washington.