Betelguese getting some attention for dimming

[Zirconia]

Gameface said:

Jack Mansfield said:

It would be incredible to see, hoping I get to experience it in my life time!

It will happen before you fix the logging out issue...

No, it will happen just after I pack the camera and scope away for the night. At least while it is up in the sky. OK for the next few nights, raining.

[Roofless Toothless]

A possibly daft, and certainly ignorant question:

Considering there are so many billions upon billions of stars in the visible universe, why are supernovas apparently so rare. What happens to all the other stars when they reach their best before date? Do they just fizzle out?

[annodomini2]

Roofless Toothless said:

A possibly daft, and certainly ignorant question:

Considering there are so many billions upon billions of stars in the visible universe, why are supernovas apparently so rare. What happens to all the other stars when they reach their best before date? Do they just fizzle out?

1. Not all stars go supernova, only big ones.
2. Even with really big stars, it still takes ~10m years for them to go.
3. Deep space astronomers spot Supernova's every day, just not in our local galaxy.

[MartG]

Roofless Toothless said:

A possibly daft, and certainly ignorant question:

Considering there are so many billions upon billions of stars in the visible universe, why are supernovas apparently so rare. What happens to all the other stars when they reach their best before date? Do they just fizzle out?

It's all a matter of size & mass

Small ones can just fizzle out and become what is called a brown dwarf

Average size ones usually expand then go nova

Big ones can do all manner of strange things, including going supernova

[Zirconia]

Wow. ESO Has an image.
From this instrument??
https://eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments...

Anyhoo, IR image of the star. Note the notes regarding the small orange dot for a scale. https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2003d/
Credit:
ESO/P. Kervella/M. Montargès et al., Acknowledgement: Eric Pantin


Some VLT goodness, this really is a stunning bit of kit. (kits? more than one mirror).
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2003/

[andy_s]

Zirconia said:

Wow. ESO Has an image.
From this instrument??
https://eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments...

Anyhoo, IR image of the star. Note the notes regarding the small orange dot for a scale. https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2003d/
Credit:
ESO/P. Kervella/M. Montargès et al., Acknowledgement: Eric Pantin


Some VLT goodness, this really is a stunning bit of kit. (kits? more than one mirror).
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2003/

Staggering really. The form of the star itself is not 'compact' like the Sun either, it's a roiling, turbulent 'mist' of star with massive convection cells that make it more like an amoeba than a fixed disc. [Doh - as explained in the last link]

[Eric Mc]

Amazing images. It looks like the dimming is not uniform.

[Zirconia]

Interesting bit of working out.
https://twitter.com/betelbot/status/12284254751790...

[anonymous-user]

It’s very difficult trying to visualise the huge numbers when they say that it is the size of Jupiter’s orbit

[MartG]

garyhun said:

It’s very difficult trying to visualise the huge numbers when they say that it is the size of Jupiter’s orbit

Especially when you remember how long it takes a space probe to reach Jupiter - the speeds reached by the material around the star must be immense !

[Zirconia]

Damn. Starting to brighten according to some.

[Scabutz]

Zirconia said:

Damn. Starting to brighten according to some.

Brighten like the brightest bright thing in the sky? Like a, a ...... supernova maybe?

[Eric Mc]

No, just boring old lightening up a bit. I think the dimming was caused by a dust cloud moving in front of the disc and it is now moving out of the way.

[Evolved]

ash73 said:

100 nearby civilisations breathe a sigh of relief; humans meanwhile are disappointed they missed out on some fireworks.

so true.

[budgie smuggler]

https://twitter.com/betelbot/status/12399918489004...

[Scabutz]

It's still noticeably dimmer to the eye. Last couple of nights have been clear and have had a gander. Data obviously shows it's getting brighter. Let's hope it gets supernova bright.

[Zirconia]

55 now
https://twitter.com/betelbot/status/12407161644533...

[budgie smuggler]

Zirconia said:

55 now
https://twitter.com/betelbot/status/12407161644533...

95% tonight

[Eric Mc]

The gas cloud has moved out of the way.

[andy_s]

She’s gonna blow!!! (Maybe not...)

101% normal brightness: