Is red supergiant star Betelguese about to go supernova?

Betelgeuse has dimmed suddenly, perplexing scientists

One of the 10 brightest stars in the nighttime sky is suddenly getting dimmer, with soft fuzzy edges.

Betelguese, the red supergiant star on the western edge of the constellation Orion (left shoulder) has changed its shape in recent months, creating speculation that a supernova is on the horizon.

“It’s been doing some very strange things recently,” said Marc Pinsonneault, an astronomer at The Ohio State University. “It’s become dramatically dimmer.”

Pinsonneault speculates that Betelgeuse will eventually implode, or go supernova, but the unpredictable time scale could be anywhere from months to thousands of years from now.

At a distance of more than 650 light years from Earth, the effects of such a cosmic explosion wouldn’t cause any harm on Earth from emitted radiation. (One light year is nearly 6 trillion miles.)

“If it explodes, it would be by far the brightest object in the night sky,” said Pinsonneault. This kind of rare visible event hasn’t happened in hundreds of years, and would be something hugely important for scientists.

Pinsonneault said observing a supernova in real-time would provide a great deal of new information on such things as the end stages of stars, and the nature of the periodic elements.

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/betelgeuse-has-dimmed-suddenly-perplexing-astronomers/amp/

 

It will dim and shrink rapidly then BOOM we have a new brightest object in the night sky for a while -- maybe tomorrow or 200,000 years from now, but soon on a galactic timeframe. Whatever it is doing right now is really weird -- imagine if the sun started getting dim and fuzzy it would be end times.

 

The dimming has stabilized since December, but remains dimmer than it has ever been observed.

 

Most recent image from 2/14/20

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have captured the unprecedented dimming of Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star in the constellation of Orion. The stunning new images of the star’s surface show not only the fading red supergiant but also how its apparent shape is changing.

Betelgeuse has been a beacon in the night sky for stellar observers but it began to dim late last year. At the time of writing Betelgeuse is at about 36% of its normal brightness, a change noticeable even to the naked eye. Astronomy enthusiasts and scientists alike were excitedly hoping to find out more about this unprecedented dimming.

https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2003/

 

Katy evacuates then collapses likely corona virus/ angry dodger (Magic Johnson).

 

I WANT TO BELIEVE