Betelguese fades a full magnitude
Long term observations of the red giant star Betelguese have found it to have faded a full magnitude in the past few months, dropping it from 6th brightest in the sky to the 21st.
You will see a lot of bad journalism related to this story, hyping the fact that Betelguese is considered one of the top nearby stars to someday in the far future go supernovae. However, the recent change in brightness is unlikely related to this and is nothing unusual, as the star fluctuates regularly.
The current faintness of Betelgeuse appears to arise from the coincidence of the star being near the minimum light of the ~5.9-yr light-cycle as well as near, the deeper than usual, minimum of the ~425-d period.
The star is definitely interesting, because it is so large (if placed in our solar system its surface would be around the orbit of Jupiter) and so defuse, more like a partly filled gasbag. However, the odds of it going supernovae in the near future is quite unlikely.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Long term observations of the red giant star Betelguese have found it to have faded a full magnitude in the past few months, dropping it from 6th brightest in the sky to the 21st.
You will see a lot of bad journalism related to this story, hyping the fact that Betelguese is considered one of the top nearby stars to someday in the far future go supernovae. However, the recent change in brightness is unlikely related to this and is nothing unusual, as the star fluctuates regularly.
The current faintness of Betelgeuse appears to arise from the coincidence of the star being near the minimum light of the ~5.9-yr light-cycle as well as near, the deeper than usual, minimum of the ~425-d period.
The star is definitely interesting, because it is so large (if placed in our solar system its surface would be around the orbit of Jupiter) and so defuse, more like a partly filled gasbag. However, the odds of it going supernovae in the near future is quite unlikely.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Thanks for the critique!
Clearly, the dimming was actually caused by the smoke from the attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. This is 2019 after all!
David – nice!
I thought the ‘bad journalism’ might be stories that Betelguese is an ‘indicator star’, and a warning that humans are harming the galaxy.
David, very nice!
Blair Ivey, it’s likely related to retreating glaciers /sarc
David–
excellent cultural reference!
Rutger Hauer
Bladerunner (original)
{-Incept date 1/23/44. 75 year life span.}
“I’ve seen things…..”
https://youtu.be/JdUq2opPY-Q
1:55
The stars are going out.
“Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.”
Arthur C. Clarke, The Nine Billion Names of God, 1953
https://letras.cabaladada.org/letras/nine_billion_names.pdf
One factual question: As Betelguese dims, is it also getting redder? This would not be atypical, but I have not seen any
discussion of this.
“What Will It Look Like When Betelgeuse Goes Supernova?”
V101 Science 2018
https://youtu.be/hJPVuSNFxlY
4:55
I first read the “Nine Billion Names of God” as a teenager and it knocked my socks off as I discovered that Science Fiction was more than Space Opera. Further in the paperback was “The Star” – which I consider the most horrifying Christmas Story of all time. The combination caused JBS Haldane to tell him that if he had been more consistent in his religious views as expressed in his stories, he would have been a serious public menace.
Both stories are available on line
“him” is Arthur C Clarke
I didn’t read the article since I saw the movie……lol.
https://www.indiewire.com/2013/03/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-tim-burtons-beetlejuice-100152/
Also quoting Blade Runner,
“If only you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes.”
F16 Guy–
Yow, Hilarious! I about spewed my coffee all over the keyboard.
Diane
Good stuff!
“I’ve done…questionable things.”
(nothing the God of bio-mechanics wouldn’t let you into heaven for)
https://youtu.be/wRxHYHPzs7s
2:36
The constellation of Orion is my favourite, and spectacular here in the winter, in a reasonable dark area the nebula is clearly visible with the naked eye.
Unfortunately so far this winter the sky has been overcast every time I have been outside in the evening, but when we finally get a clear sky it will be interesting to see if the dimming is noticeable… I actually hope so.. of course we see the planets change position, and the phases of the moon etc… But to see with the naked eye another star change would be kinda cool.
( And if course we should all keep fingers crossed it does go Nova… Then I could show my daughter what she is named after…)
Lee,
Learn to find the star Algol (Beta Persei) in the constellation of Perseus. It is an eclipsing binary star with an orbital period of 2.86 days. It’s not hard to find predictions for the middle of the eclipse when the star is a little more than 2.5 times fainter than when it isn’t in eclipse. There’s a star near it which is about the same brightness as when Algol is in maximum eclipse so it’s easy to tell when Algol is normal brightness or not. The difference is quite striking even to the naked eye. It’s been called the Demon Star for thousands of years.
@ Paul Sventek, thank you my friend!!! I’m mostly into planetary viewing.. I only have a hodgepodge 4″ refractor built from a Soviet era extremely huge telescopic photo lens, an interesting combination of prisms and some old microscope lenses… But it works…
Now I have something extra solar to get excited about, and a project for the kids to at the very least get kudos in science about!!
A very good year to you my friend… And thank you once more!!!
Its another one of those extra-terrestrial constructs that blocks out some of the light coming from a few stars.
They are building fleets. Fleets the size of solar systems.
Or someone forgot to pay the power bill.