Sun and Betelgeuse. Artwork comparing the sizes of the Sun (lower left inset, yellow) and the red supergiant star Betelgeuse. The surface of Betelgeus

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Sun and Betelgeuse. Artwork comparing the sizes of the Sun (lower left inset, yellow) and the red supergiant star Betelgeuse. The surface of Betelgeuse is shown across bottom. For further comparison, the Earth is shown under a magnifying glass, to the left of the Sun in the inset at lower left. The Earth is around 12,700 kilometres across, while the Sun is around million kilometres across, 109 times the diameter of the Earth. Betelgeuse (some 643 light years distant in the constellation of Orion) varies in size and the size is difficult to measure precisely, but it has a diameter around 1180 times that of the Sun.

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Size: 5033px × 3482px
Photo credit: © CLAUS LUNAU/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: artwork, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, betelgeuse, comparing, comparison, earth, giant, illustration, inset, large, orion, planet, red, scale, size, sizes, solar, space, star, stellar, sun, supergiant, surface, system, type, types, universe