Betelgeuse dimming, astrophysicists speculate on supernova potential -- Science & Technology -- Sott.net

Since about October 2019, Betelgeuse (the bright reddish star at Orion's shoulder in the brightest constellation in the sky that is about 600 - 700 ly distant from us) has begun a sharp dimming that has now gone beyond what has been seen in modern observations. As of the end of January, it was down about 2.5 in apparent magnitude.

Here is its "portrait" — it is one of the few stars we have seen as a disk:

A view of Betelgeuse from the ALMA observatory

Betelgeuse, captured by ALMA. Notice it is lop sided and seems to be roiled by large convection cells. In size, it is almost as large across as the orbit of Jupiter. As it is a red giant, it is thought to be end of life, and is due for supernova within the next 100,000 years.

As, normally we only see a supernova after it has happened, we do not know what precursors look like.

Some concerns have been expressed, that we may suffer x-ray bursts should that happen, but those tend to be aligned with the polar axis and such is thought to be unlikely. If it does go supernova, it will blaze up to high brightness, reaching that of the full moon approximately, then will fade away leaving behind a neutron star (or possibly a black hole, it seems to be borderline).

Here is a recent video:

This is a reminder that we are observing, we do not know to certainty.

Reader Comments

win 52 · 2020-02-13T20:43:29Z

Or, we could see something sooner than 100,000 years. They don't really know, that is the problem. Speculation is all they have. Well, I speculate we will see something in the next, say, 10 years or less. Now wait and see who is closer.

HashAttack2 · 2020-02-15T13:51:35Z

win 52 It could have blown up 600 years ago and we wouldn't know for another 100 years

win 52 · 2020-02-15T23:42:45Z

My dry sense of humor.

That is what I am talking about. Who knows, otherwise it's merely speculation which could be and likely is wrong.

Winston Smith · 2020-02-14T01:35:27Z

I don't know what I'd do if I saw Michael Keaton explode..........

endescent · 2020-02-14T15:20:52Z

“I’ve never seen a supernova, but if it’s anything like my old Chevy Nova it’ll light up the night sky!”

HashAttack2 · 2020-02-15T13:53:24Z

Here is its "portrait" — it is one of the few stars we have seen as a disk

What does that mean ... are they normally square, triangular, hexagonal ?

win 52 · 2020-02-16T00:22:55Z

Possibly a lot of them are portals between dimensions or something with no definition, not other perfect globes. As if Earth is perfectly round, as described by Hollywood/NASA take your pick.