cohort. n. 1. (Military) one of the ten units of between 300 and 600 men in an ancient Roman Legion. 2. any band of warriors or associates: the cohorts of Satan. 3.
As an early M-type supergiant, Betelgeuse is one of the largest, most luminous and yet one of the most ethereal stars known. A radius of 5.5 AU is roughly 7003118000000000000â 1180 times the radius of the Sunâable to contain over 2 quadrillion Earths (2.15 Ã 1015) or more than 1.6 billion (1.65 Ã 109) Suns.
We know that Betelgeuse, with an uncertain mass between about 12 and 20 times that of our Sun, was never destined to live very long: maybe around 10 million years only. The more massive a star is, the faster it burns through its fuel, and Betelgeuse is burning so very, very brightly: at around 100,000 times the luminosity of our Sun. Itâs currently in the final stages of its life â as a red supergiant â meaning that when the innermost core begins fusing silicon and sulfur into iron, nickel and cobalt, the star itself will only have minutes left.