Betelgeuse Is Still Dimming! And We Have the Pictures to Prove It
Near the end of 2019, astronomers watching the red giant Betelgeuse noted how much the star had dimmed, continuing to steadily fade for months.
It’s a variable star, and it’s known to get dimmer and brighter, but the big surprise is that it’s still continuing to dim, recently passing magnitude 1.56 and still getting dimmer. This is unprecedented in the decades that astronomers have been watching the star.
The world’s biggest telescopes are on the case, and the European Southern Observatory released dramatic new images of Betelgeuse, resolving features on the star’s surface and surrounding area showing how it’s dramatically changed over the course of 2019.
Just a quick note, this picture dropped on Friday and we decided it was important enough to release a video as quickly as possible. Enjoy.
Watch the video here on YouTube
Betelgeuse Is Still Dimming! And We Have the Pictures to Prove It.mp4 (Vimeo)
Comments (3)
Aliens? :-)
No. It's the Russians meddling again. ;-)
I know its unlikely but i want to see the fireworks.