Extreme object

Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is a star somewhere between 408 and 548 light-years away, weighing 14.0 Suns.

The red shoulder of Orion, a supergiant so large it would swallow Mars. It dimmed in 2019-20 after coughing out a cloud of dust; one day it will go supernova.

Key facts

Kind

Star

Distance

478 light-years

Mass

14.00 Suns

See it from here

Bright enough to see with your own eyes from a dark place.

How the map draws it

Drawn as a ring at its measured distance; the star itself is a point at this scale — the kind of thing, not this exact one.