“Although we don’t know the cause of the outburst, we thinks it was aided by the star’s pulsation cycle, which continued normally though the event, as recorded by visible-light observations,” Dr. Dupree said. “In that respect, Betelgeuse and Hubble are made for each other.”. “Now the outline of Orion is noticeably different with Betelgeuse so faint,” he says. Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and But they'll have to see if that's the case. Scientists suspect that a precipitous drop in brightness could portend a star’s demise. Image credit: NASA / ESA / E. Wheatley, STScI. Betelgeuse — a red supergiant located roughly 700 light-years away in the constellation Orion the Hunter — has been dimming over the last few months. Enter the Space & Beyond Box Photo Contest! In essence, the star is approaching the dimmest points in … The big question surrounding Betelgeuse is whether this fading is a sign the star will go supernova soon. According to Guinan, Betelgeuse is probably between 8 and 9 million years old now. Betelgeuse had gotten fainter still, and it was now the faintest it has been in the last century or so — for as long as astronomers have been able to measure its brightness with detectors rather than judging by eye. Join Us in Tucson for Our Annual Public Star Party! Based on Betelgeuse's past dimming and brightening patterns — the star seems to cycle in brightness both every 6 years or so and every 425 days — they expect that it'll get its faintest in January and then get brighter again. Betelgeuse is also approaching the end of its life. This Hubble Space Telescope image shows SN 1987A, a supernova that ignited within the Large Magellanic Cloud. At around 700 light-years away, the light we see today from Betelgeuse first departed the star’s surface in the 1300s — so, it’s entirely possible that the giant has already gone supernova. These changes make Betelgeuse appear brighter and fainter over time. Betelgeuse is significantly dimmer than Pollux, which is magnitude 1.2. Today, many people pronounce the name like the titular character in Tim Burton’s 1988 film Beetlejuice. While supernovae are relatively common in the universe — the sheer size of the cosmos means that scientists witness the death of a star every few days — to spot one from your own backyard still requires a bit of luck. In practice, though, it’s not yet certain whether stars are darkest before they blow—no one has yet been able to closely study a doomed star before, during, and after its demise. This is the big mystery, and it’s one of the reasons why the star’s current behavior is intriguing. “It is perfectly suited for monitoring bright stars like Betelgeuse.”, “STELLA had and is observing it basically every clear night since 2006.”. Guinan and his team will keep monitoring Betelgeuse, as they have been for decades.

Spatially Resolved Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of the Great Dimming of Betelgeuse. When the supergiant finally does blow, the explosion will be as bright as the Full Moon and will remain visible during the daytime for months. Nothing. Get the latest astronomical news and stargazing tips delivered to your inbox. The star is just about eight million years old, but is already on the verge of becoming a supernova. “Spatially resolving a stellar surface is only possible in favorable cases and only with the best available equipment,” said Dr. Klaus Strassmeier, a researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam. “[But] maybe it’s going to be a little bump.” With consistent observations of the star dating back 150 years, it isn’t unusual for Betelgeuse to start getting faint and quickly brighten back up. Join Us in Tucson for Our Annual Public Star Party! “But I am excited [for] when it does.”. “This will inevitably yield cool and interesting ideas for what happens to stars right before they explode.”, Photograph by Babak Tafreshi, Nat Geo Image Collection, A giant star is acting strange, and astronomers are buzzing. “Of course, our knowledge of red supergiants remains incomplete, and this is still a work in progress, so a surprise can still happen,” said Miguel Montarges, an astronomer studying Betelgeuse with VLT in a press release.

But no one has had a detailed look at how a star behaves leading up to a supernova. The star is also referred to as Alpha Orionis, a designation normally reserved for the brightest star in a constellation, even though Rigel, at Orion’s left foot, is actually brighter. “It kept getting fainter,” Guinan said. “It would be so incredibly cool!” Nance says. Betelgeuse has piqued interest in the astronomy community as experts noticed that it was dimming relatively quickly over the past few months. The cause of Betelgeuse’s dip in brightness initially baffled astronomers. Betelgeuse, marking the hunter's armpit, is a cool, red giant star.

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