Peril in Orion! Beware Betelgeuse?

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H. Raab's photos: the constellation Orion, showing changing brightness of Betelgeuse (Orion's right shoulder), (February 22, 2012 (left); February 21, 2020 (right). via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.

IAU, Sky and Telescope magazine; Roger Sinnott, Rick Fienberg's sky chart: the constellation Orion.Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion's right shoulder, is a semiregular variable star, with small periods of 185 days and 2,100 days and a main period of around 400 days.

It will explode at any moment, and we're right next door.

If I had any sense, from one viewpoint, I'd talk about the ozone hole, denounce forever chemicals and promote a 'Save the Panda' fund I'd set up.

Or maybe indulge in free association inspired by Revelation and Gematria, and slip in hints that your only hope is to give me money.

Yeah. That kind of trouble I don't need. Besides, I suspect the weird mix of numerology and Bible trivia that infested 'Christian' radio during my youth is no longer in vogue.1

So instead, I'll look at the last two times Betelgeuse was newsworthy. Then I'll talk about cosmic scale, stars and whatever else comes to mind. More at A Catholic Citizen in America.

(Betelgeuse may not explode as a supernova for another hundred thousand or a million years. But it has been acting strange lately.)

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