Betelgeuse, Up Close: A Star's Boiling Skin, Revealed

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Anna: Hey, everyone. Welcome to today's edition of

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Astronomy AstroDailyPod. I'm Anna.

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Avery: And I'm avery. It's Wednesday, August

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26th. Series five, episode 177.

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Anna: Today, we're pointing the show at one

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particular star. And not for a happy

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reason, exactly, but a genuinely fascinating

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one. Beetlejuice Betelgeuse.

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Astronomers have just released the most

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detailed picture yet of that star's actual

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surface. And bubbling is the word people

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keep reaching for. We'll spend some real time

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on why that matters and what it's telling us

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about how this thing eventually dies.

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Avery: Then, um, a spacewalk we left hanging

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yesterday has a genuinely satisfying ending.

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The sun threw a solid punch at us overnight.

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SpaceX quietly broke a reuse record on its

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way to its 100th launch of the year. And

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there's a near total lunar eclipse just two

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nights away that we aren't talking about a

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lot, but it is important.

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Anna: Also, quick continuity note. Roman

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Space Telescope is now mated to its Falcon

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Heavy and sitting on pad 39A,

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four days out from Sunday's launch. Nothing

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new to add today. We'll be all over at this

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weekend.

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Avery: Let's get started.

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First up, set the scene for us. What did

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astronomers actually just release?

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Anna: The most detailed picture yet of the actual

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surface of Betelgeuse, the red supergiant

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that marks Orion's shoulder, captured with

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the ALMA Array in Chile. That huge network of

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radio dishes up on the Atacama Plateau.

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A team led by Bill Dent at the European

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Southern Observatory put it together, and the

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images show something genuinely strange. A,

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uh, corrugated, irregular surface with bright

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hot spots pushing through, like the star's

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outer layers are actively bubbling.

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Avery: Bubbling like what, exactly? Boiling water?

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Lava.

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Anna: Something else closer to boiling, actually.

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Convection. Huge cells of plasma rising

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and falling. The same basic physics as a pot

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on the stove. Just on a scale that's hard to

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picture. Betelgeuse itself is enormous,

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about 20 times the sun's mass, but

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puffed out to roughly 800 times the

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sun's diameter. So if you dropped it into our

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solar system, it would swallow everything out

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past the orbit of Jupiter. It sits around

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600 light years away, and its atmosphere

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runs somewhere around

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3,680 degrees

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Fahrenheit, with at least two hotspots the

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team measured, running nearly 1,000 degrees

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hotter still than the plasma around them.

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Avery: Thousand degrees hotter than a star that's

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already thousands of degrees. That's a

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serious hotspot.

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Anna: It is. And here's the detail that actually

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surprised the researchers. One particular

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hotspot up in the northeastern Part of the

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star as we see it has persisted for more than

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seven years. Current models of how these

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convection cells behave didn't predict

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anything holding together that long. They're

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supposed to churn and dissolve much faster,

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though. Either the models need adjusting or

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there's something else going on holding that

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structure in place.

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Avery: Does that, uh, where the companion star comes

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in. You might remember we did a storey back a

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few weeks ago about Betelgeuse having a

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hidden partner.

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Anna: Good pickup. Yes. This ties into a separate

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but related result from earlier this year.

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Back in July, a team led by Miguel

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Montargis at the Observatoire de Paris

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used the VLT in Chile, the Very Large

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Telescope, with an instrument called sphere

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that's built to block out a star's glare.

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Originally designed for hunting exoplanets,

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to capture the clearest direct image yet of a

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faint companion star now generally called

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Betelgeuse B. It turned out to be more

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massive than expected. Something like two to

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three times the sun's mass, rather than the

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roughly sun sized object earlier theories

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predicted. What Dent's team found in the new

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ALMA data is that the orientation of that

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stubborn hotspot lines up with where that

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companion should be. Which supports the idea

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that Betelgeuse B might genuinely be

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influencing what's happening on the giant

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star's surface, rather than the two objects

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just happening to share a neighbourhood.

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Avery: So a hotspot on a dying star might actually

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be getting stirred by a smaller star orbiting

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it?

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Anna: Uh, that's the working hypothesis and

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it's not confirmed yet. But it's a satisfying

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possible answer to something that genuinely

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puzzled the team.

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Avery: Why does any of this actually matter beyond

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cool picture of a star?

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Anna: Because Betelgeuse isn't just any red

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supergiant. It's one of the closest stars to

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us that we expect to go supernova. And when

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it does, it'll be an extraordinary once

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in a civilization event, visible in

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broad daylight for weeks. The honest

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scientific answer on timing is

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somewhere in the next roughly 100,000

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years. Which sounds unsatisfying, but the

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point Bill Dent made is the one that actually

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matters. Here we don't get to choose when it

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happens. So the least we can do is document

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exactly what the star looks like right now in

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as much detail as possible. So whenever it

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does go, we've got a real baseline for

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comparison. His own words were that its

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eventual fate as a supernova is exactly

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what makes it fascinating to know what it

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actually looks like today.

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Avery: Building the before picture for an event none

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of us will necessarily be around to see.

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Anna: Maybe, maybe not. Betelgeuse has already

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surprised astronomers once this decade with

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that dramatic dimming back in 2019 and

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2020 that had people genuinely wondering if

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it was showing early warning signs. It turned

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out to be a dust cloud the star threw off

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itself. Not the beginning of the end, but

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it's a reminder this star doesn't sit still.

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Every time we get a sharper look like this

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one, we're a little more ready for whenever

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the real thing happens.

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Avery: A bubbling surface, a hidden companion star,

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and a countdown nobody can actually read.

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Anna: That's Beetlejuice for you. Mundane physics

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spoiling plasma happening on an object so

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extreme it barely fits the description.

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Avery: Okay, happier ending on this one.

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Yesterday we left you with a spacewalk still

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in progress. It's done. And it went well.

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Anna: It did. Anil Manon and Sophie Adonout

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were outside the station for six and a half

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hours yesterday, 8:27am, um to

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2:57pm Eastern, finishing the job

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they'd started back on the 18th, replacing a

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space to ground antenna that had stopped

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tracking NASA's data relay satellites all the

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way back in November last year. Station's

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been running fine on a backup since then, but

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redundancy matters up there.

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Avery: And, um, this time they actually finished it.

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No, running out of time like last time.

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Anna: Fully finished. Pulled the spare antenna out

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of external storage, mounted it on the Z1

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truss, stowed the old faulty one permanently

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on the ESP3 platform and got power

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and data hooked up and confirmed mission

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controls. And McClane gave them the line of

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the day once it was done, quoting an old song

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at them. You just saved the video dish. You

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just saved the video dish, which, if you know

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the reference, is a genuinely good spacewalk

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call sign moment.

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Avery: Numbers wise, where does that leave these

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two?

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Anna: This was Manon's third career Eva. He's

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now up to 19 hours and 20 minutes of total

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spacewalk time. And AD announced second at 12

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hours, 53 minutes. And it's worth restating,

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plainly, because it's a genuine first.

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Adenout remains the first French woman ever

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to conduct a spacewalk. And that record is

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now backed by two completed EVAs, not

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one interrupted one stationwide. This was the

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283rd spacewalk in support of the ISS,

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the 98th flown in US suits, hence

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Spacewalk 98 and the 6th of

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2026, a, uh, tidy resolution

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Avery: to a storey we've been tracking for almost

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two weeks now.

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Anna: Antenna fixed, record banked on to the next

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one.

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Avery: Meanwhile, 150 million kilometres

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away, the sun's Been busy too.

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Anna: It has. Sunspot Region 4513

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has been throwing off flares for the better

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part of a day now. Five separate M M class

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eruptions and the biggest of the batch peaked

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Yesterday morning at 6am U.S. eastern.

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An M M6.9 just shy of X

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class. The strongest category there is.

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Avery: Did we feel anything from that one?

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Anna: Some people did. That flare triggered R2

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level radio blackouts, degrading high

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frequency radio communications over parts of

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Africa, Europe and the Arctic for a while as

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the burst of X rays hit our upper atmosphere.

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That part happens at the speed of light, so

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it's already over. What's still coming is the

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slower moving

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Avery: stuff, the coronal mass ejection.

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Anna: Right. A uh, CME billowed out alongside that

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flare and forecasters have it as a glancing

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slow moving hit. Expected to reach Earth

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around 6 to 7am Eastern this Friday the

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28th, give or take about seven hours either

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side. On top of that, there's a

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separate high speed solar wind stream

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forecast to arrive starting the 27th if

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those two overlap. Space weather

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forecasters are calling for unsettled to

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active geomagnetic conditions with the chance

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of reaching minor storm levels.

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Avery: Translate that to Will I see an aurora for

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people.

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Anna: Honestly, mostly a northern hemisphere

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storey. At minor storm levels, that tends to

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mean higher latitude places like

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Scandinavia, Scotland. The northern US

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States get a decent shot. Not much farther

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south than that for us down here, minor

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storms usually don't reach far past Tasmania

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on a good night, and we don't have

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confirmation this one gets that strong. We

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wouldn't set an alarm for it. But if you're

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somewhere genuinely far south with a dark sky

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this Thursday or Friday night, it costs

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nothing to glance at the horizon.

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Avery: A flare, a radio blackout and a maybe

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aurora all from one cranky sunspot.

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Anna: The sun's allowed an active week too.

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Avery: Sticking with things that happen so often

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they almost stop being news. Except this

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one's a genuine record.

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Anna: Yesterday's early morning Falcon 9 launch

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from Cape Canaveral 5:33am

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Eastern 10:29 More Starlink

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satellites with SpaceX's 100th

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Falcon 9 flight of the year. But the number

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that actually caught our eye was on the

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booster. B1067

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flew for the 37th time, breaking the

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previous record for flights on a single first

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stage.

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Avery: 37 trips to space and back on

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Anna: the same piece of hardware, same booster.

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37 launches, 37 landings.

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This one on the drone ship. A shortfall of

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gravitas about 8 1/2 minutes after

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liftoff. Business as usual at this point.

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It's not alone up there either. Six different

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Falcon 9 boosters now have 30 or more

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flights each with

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B1067 leading the pack.

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For context on how routine this has become,

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Falcon 9 alone flew

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165 successful missions

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in all of 2025 more than

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every other orbital rocket family on the

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planet combined.

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Avery: It's funny how 100 launches in a year

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milestone almost gets buried under a

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booster's personal best.

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Anna: That's rocket reusability working exactly as

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advertised. It's supposed to stop being

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remarkable.

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Today's the day the counter clicked over on

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both fronts at once.

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Avery: Alright, uh, Skywatch and I know we corrected

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the record on this one yesterday, so give

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people the honest version again,

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Anna: Bladly, because it's worth repeating clearly.

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The night of August 27th into the

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28th brings a, uh, genuinely deep partial

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lunar eclipse. 96% of the

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moon's disc covered by Earth's shadow. About

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as close to total as you can get without

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crossing the line. Peak coverage lands around

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12:12am um, US Eastern on the

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28th, which is 4:12

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Avery: UTC and for us that converts

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to

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Anna: little after 2:00pm on the 28th

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Sydney time. Broad daylight moon well

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below the horizon. This one belongs to the

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Americas. Good views coast to coast,

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plus parts of Europe and Africa catching it

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low near sunrise. Australia and the

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rest of Asia Pacific are simply on the wrong

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side of the planet when it happens. Genuinely

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sorry again to anyone who was hoping

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we'd walked that back. We haven't. It's

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just not ours this time. If you've got family

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or listeners in the Americas, it's completely

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safe to watch with nothing more than your own

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eyes. No filters or glasses needed. Like a

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solar eclipse, expect the moon to turn a

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deep coppery red as it slides through Earth's

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shadow.

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Avery: And that's the same couple of nights the

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possible aurora activity we just talked about

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is due to arrive.

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Anna: Same window. Yes, Thursday night into

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Friday morning is really the stretch to watch

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between the eclipse, uh, for one hemisphere

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and a, uh, maybe aurora mostly for the other.

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Tidy bit of overlap, even if neither's really

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for us here.

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Avery: So what does that leave for actual southern

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hemisphere eyes this week?

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Anna: Venus is still the easy win. Bright and

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unmistakable in the western sky shortly after

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sunset. Hard to miss even from a light

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polluted balcony. Saturn's well placed

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too, rising in the east as it gets dark and

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worth a look through binoculars or a small

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scope if you've got one handy. Nothing as

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dramatic as a red moon, but a genuinely

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nice pair to go find tonight.

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Avery: Regardless Venus at dusk,

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Saturn overnight, an eclipse for the other

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side of the planet, and maybe some aurora for

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the far north.

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Anna: That's the sky this week. And that's it for

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Today's episode. Series 5 Episode

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177 Done and

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Dusted.

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Avery: Quick recap. Astronomers have released the

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most detailed picture yet of Betelgeuse's

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bubbling surface with a stubborn hotspot that

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may be stirred by a newly confirmed companion

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star. Astronauts Anil Menon and Sophie

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Adeneau successfully finished replacing an

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ISS antenna on their second attempt. The

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sun fired off an M M 6.9

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flare. With a CME due Friday and an

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outside chance of Minor Aurora activity,

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SpaceX broke a booster reuse record

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37 flights on its 100th Falcon 9

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launch of the year. And there's a spectacular

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near total lunar eclipse two nights from now

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that once again isn't for us here in the

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Southern Hemisphere.

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Anna: If you enjoyed the show, the best thing you

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can do is tell a friend, leave us a rating

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00:14:42.980 --> 00:14:45.580
wherever you listen and follow us. Just

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00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:47.980
search Astro AstroDailyPod Pod on Facebook,

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00:14:48.380 --> 00:14:51.230
Instagram, TikTok X, Tumblr and

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00:14:51.230 --> 00:14:51.790
YouTube.

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Avery: And while you're there, head to

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00:14:53.710 --> 00:14:56.710
astronomydaily IO and sign up for

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00:14:56.710 --> 00:14:58.950
our free daily newsletter, a summary of the

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00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:01.190
latest space and astronomy news straight to

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00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:04.150
your inbox, plus an email alert every time

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00:15:04.150 --> 00:15:05.310
we post a new episode.

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Anna: We'll be back tomorrow with more from across

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the universe. Until then, keep looking

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up. Clear skies, everyone.