Post by Radrook Admin on Nov 22, 2020 16:13:04 GMT -5
Why the Star Betelgeuse Dimmed
About Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse (from Arabic:إبط الجوزاء Ibṭ al-Jauzā’, meaning "the armpit of Orion") is a large red supergiant star in the Orion constellation. It is usually the ninth-brightest star in the night sky, and the second-brightest in Orion.
Betelgeuse is a semiregular variable star whose apparent magnitude varies between 0.2 and 1.2.This is the widest range of any first-magnitude star.
It is also one of the largest and most luminous observable stars. It has a radius between 950 to 1,000 times wider than the Sun. This means it is 1.322 to 1.392 billion kilometers in diameter. Betelgeuse was the first star other than the Sun whose size was known. The star's distance from Earth is about 640 light-years. Its average absolute magnitude is about −6.02.
Betelgeuse is less than 10 million years old. It evolves rapidly because of its high mass. It is moving through the interstellar medium at a speed of 30 km/s, creating a shock wave over 4 light-years wide.
Betelgeuse is now in a later stage of stellar evolution. It will rapidly go through its life cycle before exploding as a type II supernova sometime in the next million years.
An observation by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2013 showed that the star's winds are crashing against the surrounding interstellar medium. Betelgeuse is one of the red supergiant stars to have a bow shock: others are Mu Cephei and IRC-10414. Betelgeuse can be seen at the upper left in Orion.
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse
Why the Star Betelgeuse Dimmed
Just recently the star Betelgeuse, which is approx 600 light-years away, was detected as dimming dramatically. Of course, astronomers wondered why and the following reasons were all considered as possible explanations.
One possibility was that Betelgeuse was about to go supernova. Stars of its type are know to grow dimmer just before this happens. In some the surface begins to contract and finally suddenly collapses rebounds against the star's cor it is called a supernova. If a star contunies to shrink it can become either a neuton star a black hole in which case it blinks out altogether.
Dark spots which are generated by the interaction of a star's magnetic field on its granulated surface was also considered a viable explanation for the dimming. These are also present on our sun but are far smaller. However, stars of Betelguese's kind generate dark spots that can occupy almost third of their surface and in that case reduce the star's luminocity significantly.
However, with the help of the Hubble Telescope, the real reason was finally discovered. It turned out that the real culprit in Betelgeuse's case was dust. No, not dust that it suddenly encountered on its journey through interstellar space in its orbit around the Mikley Way's center, but dust that it itself had produced. In short, Betelgeus had belched material into space which changed to dust and obscured its own light.
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