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The bizarre dimming of bright star Betelgeuse caused by giant stellar eruption
space,com ^ | 13 August 2020 | Mike Wall

Posted on 08/14/2020 10:18:51 AM PDT by BenLurkin

In the fall of 2019, Betelgeuse began dimming significantly, losing about two-thirds of its brightness by February. This dramatic dip spurred speculation that the star's demise may have been imminent — perhaps just weeks away.

But the dramatic sky show didn't happen: Betelgeuse powered through the dimming episode and returned to its normal brightness by May of this year. The recovery sparked a new round of speculation, this time about the dimming's cause. Some scientists attributed the doldrums to a light-blocking dust cloud, for example, whereas others said big starspots on Betelgeuse's surface were likely to blame.

A new study bolsters the dust hypothesis, but adds a twist — Betelgeuse itself apparently coughed up the cloud.

The researchers studied the star in 2019 and 2020 using NASA's iconic Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble's observations from September through November 2019 revealed huge amounts of material moving from Betelgeuse's surface to its outer atmosphere at tremendous speeds — about 200,000 mph (320,000 km/h).

During this three-month-long outburst, Betelgeuse lost about twice as much material to space from its southern hemisphere as it normally does, study team members said.

This superhot plasma, or electrically charged gas, cooled considerably after traveling millions of miles from Betelgeuse, condensing into dust grains and forming a light-blocking cloud...

"This material was two to four times more luminous than the star's normal brightness," lead author Andrea Dupree, associate director of the Center for Astrophysics run by Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in a statement.

"And then, about a month later, the south part of Betelgeuse dimmed conspicuously as the star grew fainter," Dupree said. "We think it is possible that a dark cloud resulted from the outflow that Hubble detected."

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; betelgeuse; catastrophism; science; stringtheory
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To: BenLurkin

Another thing to blame Trump for.


41 posted on 08/14/2020 11:48:17 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Voltaire: To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.)
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To: SaveFerris

I always wanted to be an astronomer!


42 posted on 08/14/2020 11:55:01 AM PDT by Gamecock ("O God, break the teeth in their mouths." - Psalm 58:6)
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To: Buttons12

From what I remember, you’ll be able to see at day.

And of course it all happened a long time ago.


43 posted on 08/14/2020 12:36:22 PM PDT by Red6
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To: Seruzawa

Truly huge-

Now that would be news I would like to learn and hear about.

Instead the news is full of BS all engineered to make me think and act a certain way and contains “zero” actionable information.


44 posted on 08/14/2020 12:41:51 PM PDT by Red6
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To: Seruzawa

I love a good fireworks show!!


45 posted on 08/14/2020 2:23:43 PM PDT by DeplorableGirl
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To: Red Badger

2600 light years? Pffft! A hop, skip and jump. I live on The Jersey Shore. On some moonless nights I can see The Andromeda Galaxy and that thing is 2 million, 300 hundred thousand light years away.


46 posted on 08/14/2020 2:24:40 PM PDT by jmacusa (If we're all equal how is diversity our strength?)
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To: Kickass Conservative

Betelgeuse, Deneb, and a few others all seem to get the distinction of being the most massive. In comparison our star is a shrimp. Some theories suggest that Betelgeuse went supernova a long time ago.


47 posted on 08/14/2020 2:37:05 PM PDT by jmacusa (If we're all equal how is diversity our strength?)
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To: RightGeek
Lol!😂
48 posted on 08/14/2020 2:54:27 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Buttons12

It’s been off gassing for ten years. From what I was told when it does go supernova it will light up your yard, like the brightest full moon you’ve ever seen, for weeks.


49 posted on 08/14/2020 3:43:17 PM PDT by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: Gamecock

I wanted to be a Banker!


50 posted on 08/14/2020 4:24:50 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: jmacusa

Those are only Stars that we know of.

As I like to say, we will never know as much as we don’t know.


51 posted on 08/14/2020 4:54:46 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (Kill a Commie for your Mommy.)
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To: RightGeek

The other day, Dinesh D’Souza called her mayor Beetlejuice in one of his YouTube videos. Hilarious!


52 posted on 08/14/2020 4:59:20 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (Fact: Gun control laws kill innocents.)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

It’s a walleyed buckwheat fish...


53 posted on 08/14/2020 5:31:24 PM PDT by SunTzuWu
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To: Buttons12

Read a newspaper upon a moonless night by the blue glow of the supernova. Should be visible in the daytime sky for several weeks, allowing that it happens in the right time of the year—SN 1054.


54 posted on 08/14/2020 5:53:41 PM PDT by Ozark Tom
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To: Jagermonster

Thank you.
very much


55 posted on 08/14/2020 8:47:13 PM PDT by Reynoldo
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To: BenLurkin

Betelgeuse itself apparently coughed up the cloud.
It coughed up a fur ball.


56 posted on 08/14/2020 11:04:06 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (homeless guy. He just has more money....He the master will plant more cotton for the democrat party)
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To: BenLurkin; Larry Lucido; SaveFerris; PROCON

57 posted on 08/17/2020 1:12:58 PM PDT by Gamecock ("O God, break the teeth in their mouths." - Psalm 58:6)
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