Betelgeuse is one of the best-known stars in the night sky, as well as the easiest to find. New examinations of this behemoth star suggest it is both smaller — and closer — than astronomers believed.
This red giant star will, one day, explode as a supernova. However, it is challenging to determine when the eruption will take place. In addition to new measurements of the star’s size and distance, this new study from Australian National University (ANU) suggests the star is not likely to erupt for 100,000 years.
Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betel… don’t say it!
At the end of 2019, Betelgeuse appeared to dim significantly as seen from Earth. Researchers eventually determined the dimming was the result of material being ejected from Betelgeuse, which cooled, absorbing light from much of the star. A similar dimming was seen again this year, but the cause of this recent event may not be the same as last time.
“It’s normally one of the brightest stars in the sky, but we’ve observed two drops in the brightness of Betelgeuse since late 2019. This prompted speculation it could be about to explode. But our study offers a different explanation. We know the first dimming event involved a dust cloud. We found the second smaller event was likely due to the pulsations of the star,” Dr. Meridith Joyce from The Australian National University (ANU) explains.
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Where’s the Earth-shattering ka-boom?
“Let’s turn on the juice and see what shakes loose.” — Beetlejuice
Stars fuse (meld together) various elements, depending on their age and mass. By studying movements (like sound waves) on the surface of the star suggest Betelgeuse is still fusing helium. That would mean that the star is not close (on a human timescale) to erupting as a supernova.