Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 January 2

                         The Fainting of Betelgeuse
    Image Credit & Copyright: Jimmy Westlake (Colorado Mountain College)

   Explanation: Begirt with many a blazing star, Orion the Hunter is one
   of the most recognizable constellations. In this night skyscape the
   Hunter's stars rise in the northern hemisphere's winter sky on December
   30, 2019, tangled in bare trees near Newnan, Georgia, USA. Red super
   giant star Betelgeuse stands out in yellowish hues at Orion's shoulder
   left of center, but it no longer so strongly rivals the blue supergiant
   star Rigel at the Hunter's foot. In fact, skygazers around planet Earth
   can see a strikingly fainter Betelgeuse now, its brightness fading by
   more than half in the final months of 2019. Betelgeuse has long been
   known to be a variable star, changing its brightness in multiple cycles
   with approximate short and long term periods of hundreds of days to
   many years. The star is now close to its faintest since photometric
   measurements in 1926/27, likely due in part to a near coincidence in
   the minimum of short and long term cycles. Betelgeuse is also
   recognized as a nearby red supergiant star that will end its life in a
   core collapse supernova explosion sometime in the next 1,000 years,
   though that cosmic cataclysm will take place a safe 700 light-years or
   so from our fair planet.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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