KAKSHI: Betelgeuse (betel juice) - Reddest star in Orion the hunter

I bet the title does hint you about my interest in stars and constellations. I think every single child (atleast in India) has grown up listening to the lullaby "Chanda mama door ke..." . Well you can attribute this as the first obsession that I had for the amazing night sky with all its mysteries.

When I was in 6th Std. studying at Rajghat Besant School, we had stars and constellations in our syllabus. All the mythical stories surrounding these constellations and how they obtained their names really interested me. Infact during our Annual day function I had chosen to present the project on stars n constellations, which was setup in our vice-principal's office. We had a huge cardboard with black chart paper and all of us had actually taken the pain to cut tiny stars from silver paper, and had stuck it on the black chart paper to depict the night sky. Each star, each constellation correctly placed. I remember there was another chart paper, again made by us, depicting the story of Andromeda, Cyprus, etc. It was very fascinating.

Before we started on the project, we used to visit Downfield (sports ground of Rajghat, its huge, multiple choppers can land there!) at night with our science teacher and study the stars and the galaxies. It was extremely fascinating and breathtakingly beautiful. I still remember when I used to see the stars I could actually see the whole story unfold in front of my eyes. All the stories of Cassiopeia (the Queen), Andromeda (the princess), Cetus (monster), Medusa were so very interesting I loved these stories not because they were great tales but just take a look at the night sky and hear the story then you will realise the true beauty of these stories.

Now Orion the Hunter was my fascination from the very beginning. I was sort of obsessed with this constellation. One day I happened to read an article about Orion the hunter and stumbled upon the name Kakshi. This name sort of struck me and I loved it I dont know why... :) Anyways so Kakshi - Betelgeuse (red like the color obtained from chewing Betel leaf - paan) the reddest star in Orion the hunter.

Its very easy to locate Orion the hunter in the night sky. When you look at the sky you will undoubtedly notice 3 bright stars in a line, they form Orion's belt. Then above those 3 stars will be Betlegeuse and Bellatrix, red and blue in color respectively, which form the hunter's shoulders. If you can picturise a human figure now it will be very easy to complete the image with bright stars marking his knees. Try it out... you will get it.

So in the image, do you see the reddest star in the top left corner? That's Kakshi. So as my first blog I didnt know which topic to write and then Kakshi came to my mind and I thought why not write about it.

The left shoulder is noticeably brighter and gleams with an orange-red color. This star's name is unforgettable - Betelgeuse, a red super giant star whose diameter is 900 times that of the Sun. With upraised club and a lion skin for a shield, mighty Orion stands ready to meet the charge of Taurus the Bull.

Betelgeuse is nearing the end of its stellar lifetime. The nuclear reactions that have long powered its energetic heart are failing. In a desperate attempt to withstand the overpowering crush of gravity, Betelgeuse is burning the last of its nuclear fuels. As a result, Betelgeuse has become a bloated, blood red giant – a star perhaps destined to die in spectacular fashion – a supernova! When a supernova explodes it violently ejects much of its mass as an expanding cloud of dust and gas. Such debris clouds are important for they eventually help create the next stellar generation. And yet, something else may be born. The shattered core could be crushed into a rapidly spinning neutron star or possibly a black hole. One day Betelgeuse will die. How it ends its life remains to be seen.

So this is the story of Kakshi.