Double take: Betelgeuse

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Bruce D
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Double take: Betelgeuse

Unread post by Bruce D »

I noticed this a few weeks ago when I took in a quick scan of the sky, attributed it to haze or poor seeing and thought nothing more about it...

Then I thought I heard something about it, maybe here on the BB, or on a news feed and my eyes glazed over... variable stars- bleh, Algol is the only variable my eyes can tell IS variable, others I can't detect any difference.

A friend emailed a link about it yesterday and when I took the dog out at midnight I looked up and did a double-take... When is the last time you looked at Betelgeuse? It is way dimmer than Procyon, which I usually think of as about equal brightness though to me Betelgeuse seems to stand out more because of it's color, but not any more. Tell me I'm crazy, but to me this is a dramatic change to a familiar star, pretty rare in our hobby.
Bruce D
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mark.m
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Re: Double take

Unread post by mark.m »

Bruce:
You're absolutely correct. Betelgeuse is relatively faint right now. It's now around magnitude +1.3. Three months ago it was around magnitude +0.6. It's not an unusual variation for Betelgeuse (which is a known irregular red giant variable), but it's the faintest it's been for several years.

Here's a plot over the past 600 days:
Screenshot from 2019-12-29 22-01-17.png
Screenshot from 2019-12-29 22-01-17.png (54.88 KiB) Viewed 4499 times
- Mark
Mark M, AJ1B
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mark.m
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Re: Double take

Unread post by mark.m »

Okay, here's an update. This graph covers Betelgeuse's past 7 years, and includes some more recent data than the previous graph:
Screenshot from 2020-01-01 16-48-43.png
Screenshot from 2020-01-01 16-48-43.png (71.08 KiB) Viewed 4492 times
This has become a noteworthy excursion from its normal behavior. (And it really makes Orion look strange.)

- Mark
Mark M, AJ1B
Portsmouth, RI
Celestron 14" and Meade 10" SCTs
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Bruce D
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Re: Double take

Unread post by Bruce D »

Thanks for the data Mark! I've known for a long time it was a variable, but like most other variables I've never noticed differences in brightness and I check out Orion whenever it is up and I'm outside- as your second chart shows, recent behavior is dramatically different than past experience.
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Paul D
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Re: Double take: Betelgeuse

Unread post by Paul D »

There are many sites out there that are saying that Betelgeuse might be in its last stages before going super nova and we may see this in our lifetime. Would be interesting to see but I wont be holding my breath. I cant complain though, if it happens or not I have got to see many astronomical wonders that many others wont see in a lifetime.
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Bruce D
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Re: Double take: Betelgeuse

Unread post by Bruce D »

Articles I've read say it will be "soon", which they define as maybe tomorrow, maybe 100,000 years. I'm an optimist so I've cleared my schedule for the rest of the week
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JanG
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Re: Double take: Betelgeuse

Unread post by JanG »

Article by Overbye in the New York Times today, including comments from Tyson. (Dennis Overbye)
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JanG
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Re: Double take: Betelgeuse

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Image

Pretty impressive low point. (Graphic courtesy of VStar with data from the AAVSO database.)
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Bruce D
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Re: Double take: Betelgeuse

Unread post by Bruce D »

Cool Jan, I heard it has done this before so no need to cancel vacation plans! But, Since becoming interested in astronomy in my early teens, if I'm out on a night that Orion is up I check it out- even if I'm just going to the car, it's a habit. The other night, to my eye it looked dimmer than Aldebaran, I don't recall ever seeing anything like it in my past experience.
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Mark G
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Re: Double take: Betelgeuse

Unread post by Mark G »

Agreed Bruce tonight its noticeably dimmer then usual. How cool would it be to see a nova in our life time naked eye :!: 8)
Clear skies,

Mark

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