One of the brightest stars in the night sky will ‘blink out’ NEXT WEEK – and YOU can watch this ‘extremely rare’ red sun eclipse happen
One of the brightest stars in the sky will go dark next week in an “extremely rare” event – and will be visible in parts of the US, astronomers say.
Betelgeuse, an orange-red star among the stars that make up the constellation Orion, appears to disappear for 12 seconds this Monday evening, December 11, when it is briefly blocked by an asteroid.
While asteroids pass between Earth and stars all the time, the rarity of Monday’s event stems from the fact that 319 Leona hit a sweet spot that will leave a visible “ring of fire” around Betelgeuse:
Locals in Florida, as well as parts of eastern Mexico, southern Europe and northern Asia, will be within line of sight to witness a David Copperfield-style disappearance act as the supergiant star is briefly blocked by asteroid 319. Leona – Monday evening , December 11th.
Locals in Florida, as well as parts of eastern Mexico, southern Europe and northern Asia, will be within line of sight to see it.
But for everyone else, Betelgeuse’s rare occlusion will be visible in a livestream hosted by the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy starting at 8 pm ET on Monday.
While timing will be of the essence during this 12-second window, astronomers are hoping to take a more serious look at the sky – using occlusion to map the surface of this supergiant red sun, which has undergone a strange dimming over the past four years.
“This is a very exceptional phenomenon. This is essentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said astrophysicist Miguel Montarger of the Paris Observatory. Business Insider.
For ground-based observatories, these hot, charged gases would otherwise be drowned out by the blinding glare from Betelgeuse’s center, Montarges said.
The eclipse-like “occlusion” will help stellar astrophysicists collect imaging data from Betelgeuse’s surface to better understand the red supergiant’s so-called convection cells: the paths along which heated gas moves around the star.
Montarger expected that the data collected could help physicists improve their models of how a planetary system like our solar system begins.
Astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, director Virtual telescope project which will broadcast celestial event livenoted that this rare phenomenon will also help scientists study 319 Leona.
“Eclipses like these,” Masi said in a statement, “are very useful for constraining the shape of the asteroid in question.”
But. The eclipse event, Masi added, is not only “extremely rare” but also a foreshadowing of Betelgeuse’s future.
“Within a very short time we will see the legendary constellation Orion without its famous orange shoulder,” Masi wrote, “as will be the case in the distant future when Betelgeuse explodes as a supernova and turns black.”
In recent years, astronomers have obtained previously unpublished images of Betelgeuse’s surface, allowing them to monitor changes in real time and determine whether “this abrupt dimming was caused by the formation of stardust.” Monday’s occlusion will provide even more evidence
Occlusion will help stellar physicists collect data from Betelgeuse’s surface to better understand why it has dimmed in recent years. Andrea Dupree of Harvard’s Center for Astrophysics suggested the dimming was caused by a massive dust cloud (shown above).
Astronomers and astrophysicists will be trying to calculate and predict the trajectory of asteroid 319 Leon until the last minute, but according to Sky & Telescope, the eclipse is now likely to occur around 8:17 pm ET.
Line-of-sight sky watchers will be able to see Betelgeuse, typically the 10th brightest star in the night sky, disappear to the naked eye.
But binoculars or a telescope will certainly help enhance the experience of observing a rare occlusion event.
Those interested in other parts of the world may still want to give it a try and will likely be able to see Betelgeuse begin to dim in an unusual way.
Northern Hemisphere residents looking to find Betelgeuse in December should start by looking east about two hours after sunset, a vantage point that should help them see Orion’s Belt rising, the stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, and Betelgeuse glowing orange. to the left of them.
For more information, contact the International Eclipse Timing Association. special information page about the event with a downloadable Google Earth file that will help you track where in the world the event will take place.