"Betelgeuse's angular diameter of just under 0.055 arcseconds makes it almost three times larger, 950 to 1000 times larger than the Sun (8.8 to 9.3AU, or roughly to the orbit of Saturn). It is one of only about a dozen stars whose apparent size is so large it has been imaged telescopically as a visible disk rather than a point. Why is this important? Well, you see, Betelgeuse has been shrinking continuously since 1993, at an increasing rate. By June 2009, it had shrunk 15% from its size as measured in 1993. But wait! There's more. It is rumored, though I have been unable to find any reliable confirmation of the source (which is claimed to be first-hand) that the latest observations from Mauna Kea show that Betelgeuse is now shrinking so fast it is no longer round. (Due to conservation of angular momentum, when a massive star collapses gravitationally, it collapses faster at the poles, becoming increasingly oblate — flattened — as its final collapse accelerates.) What does this mean? Well, briefly, what it means — if true — is that Betelgeuse could be within as little as weeks of a Type II (core collapse) supernova. (Astronomers have considered for some time that Betelgeuse has the potential to go supernova any time in the next thousand years or so. "Any time" may just turn out to be rather sooner than expected.) IF this happens, not to put too fine a point on it, it will almost undoubtedly be among the most dramatic astronomical events ever observed by human eyes. A type II supernova can briefly outshine an entire galaxy ... and this one will be only a little over five hundred LY away. The supernova that created the Crab Nebula, SN 1054, was bright enough to see in daylight for 23 days, and remained visible for 653 days ... and it was 6,300 LY away. Betelgeuse is almost 12 times closer, and can be expected to appear around 140 times brighter by virtue of that alone." - bob

Are we going to get fried in 500 years? - Private Sanjeev

apparently its far enough away and of a type that wont ever fry us, but it will likely be about as bright as the moon - just about right to be interesting without killing everyone :P - bob

actually what am I saying. We'd get fried shortly after we see it exploding, technically (assuming it was pointing the right way). - Private Sanjeev

Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! - Gabe

"...here has so far been no confirmation of the original report from any reliable source, so the odds of the report being accurate are shrinking faster than Betelgeuse. ;) ... Kind of a shame, really; it would have been a hell of a spectacle." - eugenio