Orion Constellation in Cathedral City 12-4-15

Snapped a picture of the Orion Constellation from my back yard in Cathedral City on 12-4-15 at about 2:30 am. A few stubborn wispy clouds got in the way, but the picture still turned out well. Betelgeuse is the dominate star in this picture, for good reason. Betelgeuse is about 642.5 light years away from us, and is roughly 5-30 times the mass of our Sun(seems they are still working on this number). It is classified as a red super-giant, and is defiantly one of the largest and most luminous observable stars in our night sky. This article here from EarthSky explains that someday Betelgeuse will go all supernova and that "It will run out of fuel, collapse under its own weight, and then rebound in a spectacular supernova explosion. When this happens, Betelgeuse will brighten enormously for a few weeks or months, perhaps as bright as the full moon and visible in broad daylight." Exciting times indeed!