The boiling surface of giant star Betelgeuse may be creating an illusion

On the left, a red bubbly-looking orb is depicted. On the right is a similar orb with blueish regions.

Recent observations of Betelgeuse, a star located in the constellation Orion, have created a mystery about the red supergiant. They suggest it is spinning much faster than a star its size should be able to.

Now, a team from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, led by Ph.D. student Jing-Ze Ma, may have an explanation for why Betelgeuse appears to be spinning so utterly fast. Perhaps, the researchers say, it's actually an illusion created by the star's violently boiling surface.