"Of course, our knowledge of red supergiants remains incomplete, and this is still a work in progress, so a surprise can still happen.". make our site easier for you to use. Researchers now speculate that the star is not in fact about to go supernova, but is undergoing some other, similarly dramatic process. Read next: This second image, also taken in December 2019, clearly shows light emit by dust clouds around the red supergiant. The clouds of dust — which resemble flames in the VISIR image — are formed when the star deposits material into space. The video below takes you from the surroundings of Betelgeuse, recently observed with the VISIR instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), to its surface, which has been imaged by SPHERE on the VLT. by The Cosmic Companion Betelgeuse just keeps on getting weirder. They have put forward other explanations of the dimming and shape-changing demonstrated in the SPHERE images. Sit back and let the hottest tech news come to you by the magic of electronic mail. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? More Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust, The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. info, Growth That is so dramatic that it can be seen with the naked eye, but further investigations with telescopes have attempted to learn more about the mysterious dimming. The observations, taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in January and December 2019, show how much the star has faded and how its apparent shape has changed. “The phrase ‘we are all made of stardust’ is one we hear a lot in popular astronomy, but where exactly does this dust come from?” says Emily Cannon, a PhD student at KU Leuven working with SPHERE images of red supergiants. Astronomers have observed the ever dimming surface of Betelguese with the aid of the ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Not only is Betelgeuse Dimming Abruptly But its Shape is Also Changing Leaving Experts Stumped Astronomers have captured the unprecedented of Betelgeuse in stunning new images that reveal the red giant in the constellation of Orion is not only dimming abruptly, but its shape is also changing. Betelgeuse … Betelgeuse is one of the very few stars that is just the right combination of close enough and big enough that we can resolve it with the world’s biggest telescope. 4 common mistakes people make when scaling their HR and finance systems, Call of Duty's Halloween event has a Zombie royale and horror crossovers, Google Assistant displays get a new UI, a dark theme, and more features, Disney+ adds a stronger warning ahead of films with racist stereotypes, Learn Python machine learning with these essential books and online courses, UK city plans escooter trial despite safety failures elsewhere. The Betelgeuse star only has 36 percent of its normal brightness left. The most insightful comments on all subjects will be published daily in dedicated articles. This video below shows the star Betelgeuse before and after its unprecedented dimming. Betelgeuse: Star is dimming and appears to be changing shape, new images show. The SPHERE image shows Betelgeuse’s visible surface, which has a size close to the orbit of Jupiter, in the same month. Independent Premium Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Premium. That appears to happen when the material that makes up the star is spewed back into space. Follow us on social media. But in recent months it has started to dim in a way never before seen, and without explanation. This article was originally published on The Cosmic Companion by Rob Lea. Kervella explains that the wavelength of the image is similar to that detected by heat cameras. advertising & analytics. Betelgeuse’s irregular surface is made up of giant convective cells that move, shrink and swell. Curiosmos Send an email February 15, 2020 Last Updated: July 19, 2020. What is 'infrastructure as code' and why do you need it? The red super giant, which is part of the constellation Orion, has been dimming since 2019, but is also changing shape. The stunning new images they have captured not only reveal the star’s unprecedented dimming but also that the red supergiant in the constellation of Orion is changing shape. “Over their lifetimes, red supergiants like Betelgeuse create and eject vast amounts of material even before they explode as supernovae. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment. “The two scenarios we are working on are a cooling of the surface due to exceptional stellar activity or dust ejection towards us,” says Montargès. Some astronomers had initially speculated that the star could be about to explode into a supernova, in a dramatic event that would be visible from Earth. Now new images show that fading brightness of the star, as well as the fact that the shape as it appears to us appears to be changing. Both the ‘before’ and ‘after’ images were taken in the visible light spectrum. They have now revealed a stunning new image of the star's surface. in Syndication. New images of the unstable red supergiant released today by the European Southern Observatory reveal a distinctly lopsided star. They have been observing Betelgeuse with the VLT since December in an attempt to unravel the cause of the changes it is undergoing. Betelgeuse began to noticeably dim in late 2019, with the red supergiant’s estimated drop in brightness currently at around 36% of its normal output. Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures, Star is dimming and appears to be changing shape, Rock at the edge of solar system changes our understanding of planets, You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully, Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable, Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties, We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification. The SPHERE image is accompanied by another new image of Betelguese taken by a team of astronomers led by Pierre Kervella from the Observatory of Paris in France, using another of the VLT’s instruments, VLT Imager and Spectrometer for mid-Infrared (VISIR). Space Weather News for Feb. 14, 2020 https://spaceweather.com https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com THE CHANGING SHAPE OF BETELGEUSE: Betelgeuse isn't just dimming, it's also changing shape. This is a change so extreme it is noticeable with the naked eye. We'd love to know a bit more about our readers. Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate? The new research helps give insight into red supergiants like Betelgeuse and what could happen to cause such unusual behaviour. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth, Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015, A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. Astronomers and researchers across the globe are clamoring to learn more about this drop in brightness and what it signifies for the star. Since December, astronomers have observed the star using the ESO's Very Large Telescope, in an attempt to understand the strange behaviour of the star. Betelgeuse is normally one of the brightest stars in the night sky. siad Emily Cannon, a PhD student at KU Leuven. Our journalists will try to respond by joining the threads when they can to create a true meeting of independent Premium. Betelgeuse – a red supergiant that can be seen in the constellation Orion – has historically been one of the sky's brightest stars. Prefer to get the news as it happens? 5,340 3 minutes read. Helpfully, they took a very similar image, using the same instrument, in January 2019 and before the dimming began – allowing them to compare the two images, and understand more about the changes that Betelgeuse has undergone. You can read this original piece here. Please continue to respect all commenters and create constructive debates. All TNW2020 talks are available on-demand. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand, Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015. The star also pulsates, like a beating heart, periodically changing in brightness. Modern technology has enabled us to study these objects, hundreds of light-years away, in unprecedented detail giving us the opportunity to unravel the mystery of what triggers their mass loss.".