An update on dimming supergiant star Betelgeuse
Feb 5, 2020, 3:30 PM | Updated: Feb 11, 2020, 8:27 am
The red supergiant star Betelgeuse has been in the news and continues to perplex the astronomical world with its rapid dimming.
At the present time, Betelgeuse, which is some 650 light years from us, is the faintest that it has been in 125 years.
The star is a semivariable, with a period of variability that varies with two or three different cycles. One that is around 450 days and another that lasts for around 5.9 years.
Along with that, there may be an additional period of variability.
The star is massive, 11 times the mass of the sun and 900 times the radius of our nearest star.
Once the 10th-brightest star in the sky, Betelgeuse has now moved to 24th place. All this in a very short period of time.
The star still shines in the upper left portion of the constellation of Orion the Hunter and is still easy to see with the naked eye, right here in downtown Phoenix on any clear winter night.
Our star, the sun has been fusing material for 4.5 billion years and it looks like it will continue to do the same for another 4.5 billion!
On the other hand, stars like Betelgeuse have been around for less than 10 million years.
As stars age, many of them take a path towards the super sized monsters that are like Betelgeuse and expand and cool, after they deplete the much needed fuel of hydrogen.
Betelgeuse is the first star, other than the sun, to have its diameter measured. Many images of the star show large splotches of bright and dark material, like super star spots.
As the star expands, it slowly dims and this cycle has been going on for a long time.
There is some evidence that Betelgeuse has pushed out a large ring of material and this may be the cause of some of the dimming.
There are many other reasons, too.
When the star reaches a critical phase of depletion of fusible material, it will implode and become a super nova.
When that does occur, we will have a front row seat on an event that will capture the
attention of even the most non scientific among us.
The star could rise in brilliance to that of the full moon and be seen both day and night for many months.
This would be the brightest celestial event of modern times and maybe of all recorded human history!
No one knows what or when this will occur, but stay tuned as the star right now is at visual magnitude +1.7 and may be fainter still in the months to come.
Here are links to a few images of the star and some of the latest taken of this incredible relic of star creation.
Locate many other great objects in the night sky, with this great gallery.
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