Betelgeuse star

‘Great Dimming’ of Betelgeuse star is solved 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- June 16, 2021
Astronomers say they’ve put to bed the mystery of why one of the most familiar stars in the night sky suddenly dimmed just over a year ago.

By David Aragorn
Betelgeuse went dark, but didn’t go supernova. What happened?0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 30, 2020
The bright star’s great dimming may have been a big dust burp

By David Aragorn
Betelgeuse is Smaller and Closer to Earth than Previously Thought 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- October 17, 2020
Using new observational data from the space-based Solar Mass Ejection Imager and three different modeling techniques, astronomers have found that Betelgeuse, a red supergiant in the constellation of Orion, has a radius of about 764 solar radii, a mass between 16.5 and 19 solar masses, and is 548 light-years away.

By David Aragorn
Mystery of the dimming of massive star Betelgeuse explained 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 20, 2020
Astronomers have determined the cause of the dramatic dimming observed last year and earlier this year of one of the brightest stars in the night sky, a colossus called Betelgeuse that appears to be on its way toward a violent death.

By David Aragorn
Betelgeuse’s Mysterious Dimming Likely Caused by Huge Outburst 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 15, 2020
The red supergiant Betelgeuse is one of the brightest stars in the night sky and appears even more luminous because it is so close to Earth, only 650 light-years away. But the star also periodically changes in brightness, which was first noted in the 1830s by the British astronomer John Herschel. Betelgeuse experienced an unexpected dimming during December 2019 and the first quarter of 2020, reaching an historic minimum on February 7-13. This dimming has mystified astronomers, who scrambled to develop several theories for the abrupt change. Ultraviolet observations by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope suggest that the dimming was probably caused by an immense amount of superhot material ejected into space. The material cooled and formed a dust cloud that blocked the starlight coming from about a quarter of Betelgeuse’s surface.

By David Aragorn
Giant star spots likely cause of Betelgeuse dimming 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 1, 2020
Betelgeuse, the bright star in the constellation of Orion, has been fascinating astronomers in the recent months because of its unusually strong decline in brightness. Scientists have been discussing a number of scenarios trying to explain its behavior. Now a team led by Thavisha Dharmawardena of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have shown that most likely unusually large star spots on the surface of Betelgeuse have caused the dimming. Their results rule out the previous conjecture that it was dust, recently ejected by Betelgeuse, which obscured the star.

By David Aragorn
THE CONTINUING MYSTERY OF BETELGEUSE 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- February 10, 2020
For months, astronomers have been keeping a wary eye on Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion’s shoulder.

By David Aragorn
Betelgeuse star acting like it’s about to explode, even if the odds say it isn’t 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- December 26, 2019
One of the brightest stars in the sky makes up Orion’s shoulder and also looks to be on the verge of going supernova sometime between today and 100,000 years from today.

By David Aragorn