We have mentioned this oddity before -- most recently, on Valentine's 2020 -- and now there is a pretty clear scientific explanation for the February 2020 observed data.
Since Betelgeuse of late has been very close to our own Sun's corona in the sky, from the angle of our Earth observatories, we haven't had data on it, since early summer. But STEREO, our space based telescope was. . . watching it.
And it seems to have begun a noticeable dimming, again here in late July to August. We will be able to see it from Earth based telescopes, starting in late August -- but this "dimming return period" is much shorter than those previously-observed (a 400-plus day cycle -- while this is less than 120 days) between such events. So it may be that these "super flares" are accelerating in frequency.
Here's just a bit, from ScienceAlert.com (do go read it all):
. . . .STEREO’s measurements revealed that Betelgeuse is dimming again — an unexpected development so soon after its last dim period. Betelgeuse typically goes through brightness cycles lasting about 420 days, with the previous minimum in February 2020, meaning this dimming is happening unexpectedly early. These observations were reported by the science team via The Astronomer’s Telegram on July 28, 2020. This is an intriguing phenomenon that scientists will study with additional Earth-orbiting and ground-based observatories when Betelgeuse returns to the night sky in late August. . . .
We once again needed to get well off-world, this morning -- with all the ugliness that is Trump. Even so, our children -- or theirs -- may yet see this mighty star go supernova, in their life-times. And that makes me grin -- as they will see perhaps a year or more of two very bright stars -- even in daylight.
मस्ते
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