Betelgeuse, also called 

Alpha Orionis, second brightest star in

the constellation Orion, marking the eastern shoulder of the hunter.
Its name is derived from the Arabic word bat al-jawzāʾ, which
means “the giant’s shoulder.” Betelgeuse is one of the most
luminous stars in the night sky. It is a variable star and usually has
an apparent magnitude of about 0.6. However, in late 2019 it began
dimming to an apparent magnitude of 1.6 by early 2020; it returned
to its original brightness later that year. This “Great Dimming” was
caused by a giant ejection of gas that condensed into dust when it
cooled. Betelgeuse is easily discernible to even the casual observer,
not only because of its brightness and position in the brilliant Orion
but also because of its deep reddish colour. The star is
approximately 724 light-years from Earth.

Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse imaged in ultraviolet light by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Andrea Dupree (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), Ronald Gilliland (STScI), NASA and
ESA
Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star roughly 950 times as large as
the Sun, is one of the largest stars known. For comparison, the
diameter of Mars’s orbit around the Sun is 328 times the Sun’s
diameter. Infrared studies from spacecraft have revealed that
Betelgeuse is surrounded by immense shells of material evidently
shed by the star during episodes of mass loss over the past 100,000
years. The largest of these shells has a radius of nearly 7.5 light-
years.

Orion
constellation

See some of the northern constellations such as Orion, the Big Dipper, the North Star,
and Cassiopeia
Learn about some of the brightest northern constellations: Orion, the Big Dipper, and Cassiopeia.
© Open University (A Britannica Publishing Partner)See all videos for this article
Orion, in astronomy, major constellation lying at about 5 hours 30
minutes right ascension and 0° declination, named for the Greek
mythological hunter. Orion is one of the
most conspicuous constellations and contains many bright stars.
One of these, Betelgeuse, a variable star, is easily distinguished by
its reddish colour and is the 11th brightest star in the sky, with
a magnitude of 0.6. Orion’s brightest star, Rigel, located in the
hunter’s leg, has a magnitude of 0.1 and is the seventh brightest star
in the sky. The third brightest star in the constellation is Bellatrix.
Orion’s girdle, or belt—consisting of three bright stars—lies nearly
on the celestial equator. His sword, south of the belt, contains the
great Orion Nebula, an emission nebula containing hundreds of
young stars, which is visible to the unaided eye. Faint extensions of
this nebula fill almost the whole constellation.

Orion