The giant star Betelgeuse experienced a major dimming many years ago. Thereupon, the scientific world followed this event with interest. Finally, a team made a statement on Tuesday. In this statement, the team noted that a weather satellite captured this event of Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star in the constellation of Orion.
A Japanese weather satellite captured the dimming
Between 2019 and 2020, the star Betelgeuse experienced a fading, dimming. This event took place as a great blackout in the scientific world. The last mysterious darkening was captured by a Japanese weather satellite.
The second brightest star in the constellation Orion, Betelgeuse is located in the Milky Way. With this feature, the giant star comes after the blue giant Rigel. The sudden dimming of this star and its darker-than-normal appearance caught the attention of many. On top of that, some people stated that the star was in a position to explode. Astronomers searched for the cause of the event.
According to research, there are two options to explain why a giant star goes out. The first is that internal processes can lower the effective temperature of the star and therefore its light output. The other option was for the dust to get between the star and Earth, absorbing some of the star’s light. However, these results were found to be insufficient in many respects.
In addition, researchers offer a different explanation for this rapid change. Accordingly, the blackout also suggests a shock wave that was formed from material ejected by Betelgeuse and reached the water cloud.
Images captured by the Himawari-8 satellite confirm some studies of the great blackout. Operating 22,236 miles above the equator, the satellite captures optical and infrared images of the entire Earth every 10 minutes.
Well, what do you think about this issue? What do you think is the reason for the blackout? Don’t forget to share your views with us in the comments!
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