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"At the time of writing Betelgeuse is at about 36 per cent of its normal brightness, a change noticeable even to the naked eye.". An explosion would change the view of the night sky forever, leaving a gaping hole in the Orion constellation. Pictures of Betelgeuse's dimming were first shared by scientists at the European Southern Observatory, who captured them using the Very Large Telescope on Chile's Cerro Paranal mountain. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Obviously, the Sun has never had a sun spot cover so much of its surface, but the Sun operates on a very different scale from Betelgeuse. Sign up or login to join the discussions! While that may sound a little scary, the explosion will pose no danger to life on Earth, Nasa said. "The two scenarios we are working on are a cooling of the surface due to exceptional stellar activity or dust ejection towards us," said ESO scientist Dr Miguel Montargès. Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk, Michelle Keegan returns to Corrie after 6 years away as cast film Xmas episodes, Helen Flanagan shows off growing baby bump in glam dress for lunch in Manchester, Mum, 18, charged with killing baby daughter 'left her home alone for six days', Jilted mum facing jail after posting pic of her ex naked on social media, Baby's head torn from its body and fell on floor during botched pregnancy, ©News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Your California Privacy Rights | Do Not Sell My Personal Information

It's possible that, due to the distance from the core and the area where the star's magnetic field is generated, much larger areas of the surface of Betelgeuse can cool simultaneously. Sun spots are simply cooler portions on the Sun's surface where less of the hot, internal material makes it to the upper levels of the Sun. News Corp is a network of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and information services. The bright stellar speck Betelgeuse has been mysteriously "dimming" for months and astronomers recently released new photos of the doomed star. "During the first five months of 2019 amateur observations show Betelgeuse actually got slightly brighter, while in the last five months the star dimmed dramatically," Nasa said. But in the meantime, it's still in the area of Betelgeuse, which the European Southern Observatory has helpfully imaged as well. But for those of you hoping for a once-in-many-lifetimes lightshow from a supernova, we're sorry to report that neither of these likely answers is an indication that one of those is forthcoming. Betelgeuse, which is in the constellation of Orion around 700 light years from Earth, will most likely explode thousands of years in the future. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. The star is known as a semi-regular variable star, which means its brightness can vary. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant, a type of incredibly bright star with short a lifespan. Because Betelgeuse is so large and so close, it's actually possible to resolve some details of its surface rather than simply seeing it as a point source of light. What in the world could be going on here? Betelgeuse has been a red supergiant for 40,000 years and has exhibited signs of dimming before. Posting the images to its website on Monday, Nasa said the observations had reignited the debate over when the star will explode in a cosmic event known as a supernova.

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In any case, because of its proximity and our ability to image Betelgeuse, it makes a fantastic laboratory to study whatever process is driving the dimming.

Supernovae are triggered when a star burns through enough of its hydrogen to cause its core to collapse. Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Let us know in the comments... We pay for your stories! To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. And, Nasa wants to grow "living" astronaut homes on the Moon and Mars out of mushrooms. For other inquiries, Contact Us. By December, it was most decidedly not. These two images show the difference in the star's brightness in January and December 2019, Betelgeuse is expected to explode in a few thousand years' time, This December 2019 image shows dust clouds (orange) emitted from Betelgeuse (black). Both are related to the star's enormous size, which means that its surface layers are only distantly and indirectly related to the fusion reactions that are taking place in its core. That means the star has only a tenuous gravitational grip on some of its outer layers, which have a lot of heavier elements in them due to Betelgeuse's advanced age. As you can see in the before-and-after images above, Betelgeuse was more or less spherical about a year ago. Comments are subject to our community guidelines, which can be viewed, , Senior Digital Technology and Science Reporter, The red supergiant Betelgeuse has been mysteriously dimming for several months. But in the meantime, it's still in the area of Betelgeuse, which the European Southern Observatory has helpfully imaged as well. Of course, there's also the possibility that some process we're completely unaware of is happening, which would be even more interesting.

CNMN Collection "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. While the upper hemisphere of the star looked much as it had a year earlier, the lower portion looked diffuse and distorted, with at least two regions of distinct brightnesses. - Feb 14, 2020 6:03 pm UTC. Some astronomers have used the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory to do just that, and they've found something extremely weird: Betelgeuse's dimming isn't even. A huge asteroid that could one day hit Earth has been caught on camera in an incredible image. "Betelgeuse has been a beacon in the night sky for stellar observers but it began to dim late last year," the team wrote on Friday. NEW details have emerged about a massive nearby star that scientists believe will explode so violently we'll see the blast from Earth. Found in the constellation of Orion, it's large enough and close enough that when it's destroyed in an inevitable supernova, it will put on a spectacular light show for anyone who happens to be on Earth to see it. However, scientists at the ESO said the dimming was unlikely to be caused by an imminent explosion. Eventually, that dust will go into seeding heavier elements into newborn exosolar systems, helping produce rocky planets like Earth. "Such variability is likely just normal behaviour for this famously variable supergiant, but the recent dimming has rekindled discussion on how long it may be before Betelgeuse does go supernova.". Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? When it does, Earth will be treated to an incredible night-sky light show as the dying star shines brighter than the full Moon. John Timmer Astronomers observing Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star, had been puzzled by its mysterious dimming. Do you think the star will explode? The other possibility is a rough equivalent to sun spots, but on a much, much grander scale. The red supergiant Betelgeuse has been mysteriously dimming for several months. Snapped by a huge telescope in Chile, the pictures from January and December 2019 show how the star has darkened over the past year. "Of course, our knowledge of red supergiants remains incomplete, and this is still a work in progress, so a surprise can still happen.". So when the star started dimming late last year, speculation rose that the show was about to start. Like all supergiants, it will eventually go supernova. Ars may earn compensation on sales from links on this site. Alternatively, a dust cloud ejected by the stellar giant could be eclipsing it. Scientists think these clouds may be obscuring their instruments, causing the star to 'dim' in recent images, Diagram shows how a hot gas giant exoplanet effects a surrounding star, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), A supernova is a powerful and bright stellar explosion, It occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf goes into runaway nuclear fusion, The original object collapses into either a neutron star or black hole, or is completely destroyed, The "peak luminosity" of a supernova is comparable to an entire galaxy, before fading over several weeks or months, Just three naked-eye supernova events have been observed in the Milky Way during the last thousand years, The most recent of which was Kepler's Supernova in 1604, A supernova remnant is the structure resulting from the explosion of a star in a supernova, And it's made from ejected material expanding fromm the exposion, and interstellar material it sweeps up along the way.

It's possible that the dimming is simply caused by a dense cloud of dust residing between us and the star. Instead, the change may be caused by the star cooling down during a period of high activity at its surface.
These two images show the difference in the star's brightness … The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. View our online Press Pack. They're caused by differences in magnetic activity. From Earth's perspective, one of the brightest stars in the sky is the red supergiant Betelgeuse. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 1/1/20) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 1/1/20) and Ars Technica Addendum (effective 8/21/2018). Betelgeuse has always been a variable star (though far less variable than at present), and there are a couple of potential causes. Near the end of 2019, astronomers watching the red giant Betelgeuse noted how much the star had dimmed, continuing to steadily fade for months. You must login or create an account to comment. All rights reserved. Read our affiliate link policy. Some believed the event, which lasted from November 2019 to … WIRED Media Group The net result of this is the production of dust—lots of dust. In other news, water on Mars contained just the right ingredients to support life, according to a recent study. Betelgeuse's strange, periodic dimming has puzzled stargazers for thousands of years, but made headlines over the last year when it started to dim dramatically in …