TL:DR What is the correct pronunciation for the star named Betelgeuse. It’s not “beetlejuice”, it is Beh-tell-jerrz.
Betelgeuse is the bright red star you see in the constellation of Orion. It’s actually a red supergiant and looking at the constellation you might imagine it as the top of his right shoulder (top left of the constellation, assuming he’s standing facing you) It is a variable star and brightens and dims periodically. Betelgeuse is so big that if you swapped our Sun for it, it would reach as far as the solar system’s asteroid belt, engulfing the orbits of Mercury, Venus, our own planet, Earth, and Mars.
Betelgeuse is occasionally in the news because some astronomers think its recent unprecedented dimming might indicate that it is about to explode and become a supernova. If it did, it would be bright enough to be visible to the naked eye even during daylight hours if it were above the horizon during the day. Of course, because Betelgeuse is so far away, if we see it go supernova, then we know that explosion will actually have happened some time in the Middle Ages and the light has only just reached us after centuries of travelling across space to reach us.
Meanwhile, the far more controversial issue is how does one pronounce the name of this star. It’s definitely not Beetle Juice, regardless of the movie title, although far too many American astronomers and pundits do pronounce it like that.
The name comes from an Arabic phrase meaning “the armpit of Orion”
That phrase is pronounced ebt-el-jowzah, roughly. The “j” is a zh sound like the G in the name Genevieve. It’s not a hard j as in June and it’s definitely not the “g” of Gloria. Etymology does not define pronunciation, but the closer to the root we can be the better, I’d say, and astronomical writer Paul Sutherland agrees with my pronunciation and if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me:
Bettle Jerrz – with that softer sounding “J”
Oh, and one more thing, despite all the hyperbole about Betelgeuse, Sutherland points out that by definition it’s a variable star and they vary, sometimes quite a lot. [UPDATE: My friend Paul, sadly died on 20th June 2022]
Meanwhile, check out my photography guide on taking snaps of the stars, including one about Orion’s Sword and the Orion Nebula.