Definitions for "BETELGEUSE"
(pronounced "beetle juice") Betelgeuse (alpha Orionis) is the second-brightest star in the constellation called Orion and one of the brightest stars in the sky. It is a supergiant star, reddish in color, and over 600 million miles in diameter (almost 1,000 times bigger than the Sun but cooler than the Sun). Betelgeuse is about 14,000 times brighter than the Sun. If Betelgeuse were at the center of our Solar System, it would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter. It is 520 light-years from Earth. It is a variable star, varying in magnitude from 0.3 to 1.2 over a period of about 7 years, averaging about 0.70. It is the only star (other than our sun) for which we have surface images.