Betelgeuse at closer distances
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant large enough that, placed at the centre of the Solar System, its surface would reach out past the inner planets. Its calculated apparent size opens into a globe of imagined convection as it comes closer. The colours and cells are artistic reconstruction, not a measured surface map or a claim about its rotation.
- 1,050,000,000 km
- star
What would Betelgeuse look like inside the Solar System?
At 63 AU, Betelgeuse spans 6.4° across your sky — about 12 times the width of the full Moon. Light crosses that gap in 8.7 hours.
Perigee renders the apparent size and the light. It does not simulate what this would do to Earth.
At this distance, Earth would not survive. Enjoy the view.
How big would Betelgeuse look from two hundred and fifty astronomical units?
At 250 AU, Betelgeuse spans 1.6° across your sky — about 3.1 times the width of the full Moon. Light crosses that gap in 34.7 hours.
The globe now has the scale of a small Moon, with broad, stylized convection regions across it.
How big would Betelgeuse look from one thousand astronomical units?
At 0.02 ly, Betelgeuse spans 24.1′ across your sky — about 0.78 times the width of the full Moon. Light crosses that gap in 5.8 days.
The point opens into a measurable red-orange disc.
How big would Betelgeuse look from ten thousand astronomical units?
At 0.16 ly, Betelgeuse spans 2.4′ across your sky — a small fraction of the width of the full Moon. Light crosses that gap in 57.8 days.
Still unresolved to an unaided eye, but vastly brighter than the real star.
How big does Betelgeuse actually look from Earth?
At 548 ly, Betelgeuse spans 0.04 arcseconds across your sky — a small fraction of the width of the full Moon. Light crosses that gap in 548 years.
At its true distance Betelgeuse is one of the brightest stars in Orion, and still a point.
What Perigee calculates and what it renders
The apparent size is calculated, but the light, colour and environmental treatment are an authored visualization. Perigee does not model heat, radiation, gravity or tides.
How Perigee calculates apparent size