Betelgeuse dimmed in the final few months of 2019, perplexing both professional and amateur astronomers.
Now, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has been used to explain the mystery.
Rising and falling currents under the surface of Betelgeuse circulates stellar material, creating convention cells.
This process resulted in the release of superhot plasma.
The dust cloud which formed blocked light from roughly one-quarter of Betelgeuse, the study finds.
The following month, several astronomers had noted significant dimming over the southeastern quadrant of the star.
When the plasma first erupted from Betelgeuse, it was significantly hotter than the surrounding surface.
However, as the material including ionized magnesium spread away from the star it cooled and turned dark.
By April 2020, Betelgeuse returned to normal brightness.
This material was two to four times more luminous than the stars normal brightness.
We think it is possible that a dark cloud resulted from the outflow that Hubble detected,Dupree describes.
Betelgeuse is losing mass at a rate of 30 million times greater than our own Sun.
All stars are losing material to the interstellar medium, and we dont know how this material is lost.
Is it a smooth wind blowing all the time?
Or does it come in fits and starts?
Perhaps with an event such as we discovered on Betelgeuse?
But in over a century-and-a-half, this has not happened to Betelgeuse.
Its very unique, Dupree explains.
These layers are heated partly by the stars turbulent convection cells bubbling up to the surface, theHubble teamreports.
Betelgeuse is doomed to end its life as a supernova explosion.
If this occurs, the eruption will easily be visible from Earth.
This summer, thanks to the STEREO mission, Betelgeuse cannot hide in the Suns glare.
It takes light 725 years to traverse the distance betweenBetelgeuseand Earth.
This article was originally published onThe Cosmic CompanionbyJames Maynard, founder and publisher of The Cosmic Companion.
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