Betelgeuse continues to fade, but is the light preparing to break out a supernova, or are some other processes leading to this?
Astronomers from Villanova University Edward Ginan and Richard Wasatonic were the first scientists to report Betelgeuse tarnishing. Now they are reporting that the brightness of the star continues to decline.
Recall that Betelgeuse is a red-orange super-giant pulsating star in the constellation Orion, which is 700 light-years distant from Earth. At the end of it’s life, Betelgeuse will explode a supernova, and probably this has already happened.
It is important to note that Betelgeuse is a variable star, which means its brightness is a variable.
Astronomers are well aware of this and have long observed the brightness change cycles. Most fluctuations are predictable, but what happens to Betelgeuse today is an anomaly.
The star became fainter than ever in the history of observations.
According to information provided by Ginan and Vasatonic, the temperature of Betelgeuse over 3 months fell by almost 173 degrees Celsius, and its brightness fell by 25%. At the same time, the radius of the object grew by about 9%.
We are very lucky that, by the standards of the Universe, Betelgeuse is so close to us. We can observe the evolutionary process of another star and collect such detailed data.
Betelgeuse flashed a supernova?
Probably. However, scientists are considering any other options and do not want to focus only on this conclusion.
They assume that a decrease in brightness could cause a gas-dust cloud flying between us and Betelgeuse. By the way, it could also explain the temperature drop. What to do with the growth of the radius? It is possible that this is simply “age-related edema” caused by a natural evolutionary process.
There is a possibility that Betelgeuse has already flashed a supernova or that we are observing its unstable behavior before this event, which will be the most spectacular natural disaster available to humans.
Yes, astronomers observed supernovae such as SN 185 and SN 1604, but they were extremely far from Earth, so no details were even discussed.
When Betelgeuse explodes (or has already exploded), this event will become the third brightest object in the earth’s sky after the Sun and the full Moon. By some estimates, it will be even brighter than the moon!
This glow will persist for months or even years, casting a shadow on Earth at night. After about 3 years, this colossal brightness will disappear, and after 6 years there will be no trace in the night sky.
When will this happen?
Astronomers know what will happen, but they don’t know when exactly, answering something like: “yesterday, tomorrow or in a century.”
