ALMA captures Betelgeuse’s bubbling surface in unprecedented detail

Using ALMA, scientists captured 2023 images of Betelgeuse, a ~20-solar-mass red supergiant about 600 light-years away, revealing a turbulent, bubbling surface with bright hotspots caused by giant convective flows in its atmosphere; the warmest region in the northeast persists for at least seven years, hinting at long-lived surface structures and possibly a companion star; with atmospheric temperatures around 2,030°C and pockets hotter by about 530°C, these observations help explain mass loss and atmospheric dynamics as Betelgeuse nears its eventual supernova; the study will continue monitoring and is published in Astronomy & Astrophysics (arXiv).