Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) is a red supergiant star some 640 light-years from the Solar System in the constellation of Orion. It is around 900 times the radius of the Sun and 20 times its mass. If it were placed at the centre of the Solar System it would reach beyond the orbit of Mars and possibly Jupiter. Betelgeuse, being so relatively close, is large enough that astronomers have resolved its disc. Images of Betelgeuse obtained in 2009 using the Very Large Telescope in Chile revealed that it is shedding vast quantities of gas in all directions, its entire surface bubbling up and down as it does so, and as depicted in this illustration. A hypothetical gas giant planet has also been added.