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the constellation Orion
2019The constellation Orion
Betelgeuse
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the American Association of Variable Star Observers
Betelgeuse
Edward Guinan
Sarafina Nance
Orionâ
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John Herschel
1836.More
â Guinan
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the European Middle Ages
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Orionâs
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Guinan
Chile
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However, it is unusual for one of the skyâs most prominent points of light to fade so noticeably, prompting scientists to consider the possibility that something more exciting could be about to happen: Betelgeuse might explode and die, briefly blazing brighter than the full moon before vanishing from our night sky forever.Huge, red stars like Betelgeuse live fast and die violently, exploding in stellar events called supernovae that are visible across vast distances. Decades of photometric data show that Betelgeuse brightens and dims in cycles, with one notable cycle vacillating on a roughly six-year timescale, and another rising and falling every 425 days or so.âThe star is not strictly periodic, and the range of light variations changes from cycle to cycle,â Guinan says, noting that right now, Betelgeuse is the dimmest it has been since more precise monitoring began around a century ago; the second-duskiest observations on record date back to the mid-1920s.The reasons for these quasiperiodic changes in variations are somewhat unclear. If we do see it detonate in our sky any time soon, that means the star actually blew up sometime during the European Middle Ages, and light from the blast is just reaching Earth.Either way, scientists are excited to keep watch on Betelgeuse and see what sorts of surprises the star still has in store.âIt's actually quite rare to study a star this well pre-explosion, whenever that happens,â Nance says.
As said here by Nadia Drake