Betelgeuse, shown here in a Hubble Space Telescope image, is a red supergiant about 500 light-years away in the constellation Orion the Hunter. Although astronomers predict this massive star will end its life as a supernova soon — at least in cosmic terms — the effects of such an explosion won’t pose a problem for life on Earth.
Andrea Dupree (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), Ronald Gilliland (STScI), NASA and ESA