Betelgeuse and the Solar System, size comparison. Betelgeuse, a red supergiant, is one of the largest stars currently known, with a radius around 1400 times larger than the Sun's. The labels shown how in our Solar System, Betelgeuse would engulf all four terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) and even the gas giant Jupiter. Only Saturn would be beyond its surface. Here, Betelgeuse is seen by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). This is the first time that ALMA has ever observed the surface of a star and this first attempt has resulted in the highest-resolution image of Betelgeuse available. This supergiant star is about eight million years old and on the verge of becoming a supernova. It has a giant plume of gas almost as large as the solar system, and a massive bubble boiling on its surface. These structures were detected using the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). This discovery helps to explain how supergiant stars shed material at a tremendous rate. Betelguese is located around 600 light years from Earth, in the constellation of Orion. For this image without labels, see C048/0821. Image published in 2017.