A giant star is acting strange, and astronomers are buzzing
Nadia Drake, Science | 26 December 2019
The red giant Betelgeuse is the dimmest seen in years, prompting some speculation that the star is about to explode. Here's what we know.
Nadia Drake, Science | 26 December 2019
The red giant Betelgeuse is the dimmest seen in years, prompting some speculation that the star is about to explode. Here's what we know.
The Constellation Orion, The Hunter from Greek Mythology, is shown on the right. The three stars at the center of the constellation represent the hunter's belt. Betelgeuse is isolated on left. |
THE CONSTELLATION ORION is one of the most recognizable patterns in the night sky, visible around the world. But if you’ve looked at Orion recently and thought something seemed off, you’re not wrong: The giant red star Betelgeuse, which marks the hunter’s right shoulder, is the dimmest it’s been in almost a century.
Normally, Betelgeuse is among the 10 brightest stars in the sky. However, the red giant began dimming in October, and by mid-December, the star had faded so much it wasn’t even in the top 20, Villanova University’s Edward Guinan reported in an Astronomer’s Telegram.
“Now the outline of Orion is noticeably different with Betelgeuse so faint,” he says.
To be clear, dimming alone isn’t all that odd for a star like Betelgeuse. It’s what’s known as a variable star, and its shifts in brightness have been closely studied for decades. However, it is unusual for one of the sky’s most prominent points of light to fade so noticeably, prompting scientists to consider the possibility that something more exciting could be about to happen: Betelgeuse might explode and die, briefly blazing brighter than the full moon before vanishing from our night sky forever.
Huge, red stars like Betelgeuse live fast and die violently, exploding in stellar events called supernovae that are visible across vast distances. So, while Betelgeuse is a relatively young star—only about 8.5 million years old—astronomers know that it is nearing the end of its life.
“The biggest question now is when it will explode in a supernova,” UC Berkeley’s Sarafina Nance, who studies Betelgeuse and stellar explosions, said on Twitter. “Disclaimer: I don't think it's going to explode any time soon,” she added during an interview with National Geographic. “But I am excited [for] when it does.”
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I used an image from another article and captioned it to fit this article and to provide a little background information. - ilan
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