February 2, 2013

Composite colour image of the Herschel PACS 70, 100, 160 micron-wavelength images of the star Betelgeuse and the environment around it (Image ESA/Herschel/PACS/L. Decin et al)

A couple of years ago, the star Betelgeuse rose to the spotlight in connection with some pseudo-Mayan prophecies about the end of the world. Now at last we can talk about this star for purely scientific reasons as ESA’s Herschel space observatory allowed to obtain an image that shows how it’s approaching a wall of interstellar dust.