Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) is located approximately 640 light-years away from Earth and is the second brightest star in the constellation Orion (after Rigel) . It is a red supergiant and one of the largest stars known - it has a radius 950 times that of the Sun and is an amazing 135,000 times brighter.
In the movie "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", this star system was the home to the Betelgeusians and a Betelgeusian sciences division officer is seen aboard the USS Enterprise during the V'Ger incident.
Considering its size and apparent young age of only 8.5 million years, it may go supernova. Despite its relative proximity to Earth, Betelgeuse's supernova would not cause a gamma ray burst in the direction of Earth large enough to damage our ecosystem - this is because its rotational axis is not toward the Earth. However, a Betelgeuse supernova could easily outshine the Moon in the night sky.
Betelgeuse
