Betelgeuse will dim or disappear on December 11 or 12
On December 11 or 12, 2023, – relying in your location – observers alongside a slender path in southern Europe and throughout the Atlantic Ocean into the Bahamas, southern Florida and a part of Mexico will be capable of see Betelgeuse change into fainter – or perhaps even disappear – for a number of seconds. Asteroid Leona will go in entrance of the well-known pink supergiant star of Orion, briefly blocking a few of its gentle. Betelgeuse’s gentle will look dimmed or extinguished for as much as seven seconds. For extra exact maps of the occasion, try the map on this page of the Occult Watcher web site.
So, for instance, in Cordoba, Spain, the mid-point of the occasion will probably be at about 1:15:45 UTC, or 2:15 a.m. native time, on December 12, 2023. And in Miami, Florida, the mid-point of the occasion will probably be at about 8:24:54 p.m. native time on December 11, 2023. That’s the identical as 1:24:54 UTC on December 12, 2023. Discover the precise timing in your location here.
Are you exterior the viewing space? Try this simulation by the Digital Telescope Challenge, exhibiting how Orion will briefly lose its vibrant, orangish shoulder star.
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An incredible alternative for astronomers!
This occasion is a good alternative for astronomers to be taught extra about each the enigmatic star Betelgeuse and little asteroid Leona. Presently, each the dimensions and form of Betelgeuse and Leona are uncertain. Observations through the go of Leona in entrance of Betelgeuse will assist astronomers pin down their sizes and different options. As Sky & Telescope said:
By exactly timing the length of the occultation from many websites concurrently, astronomers can refine their data of the dimensions and form of the asteroid. They might even be capable of map Betelgeuse’s surprisingly giant convective cells, by which the star brightens and darkens for months at a time.
Because the asteroid strikes throughout the stellar disk, it is going to cross over giant convection cells, that are brighter than a lot of the the star’s seen floor. Thus, measuring the brightness of the star all through the occultation will show very important.
Betelgeuse is a temperamental star
Betelgeuse is already well-known for the way it varies in brightness. And, since 2019, there’s been a noticeable uptick within the brightening and dimming of Betelgeuse. It’s the closest pink supergiant star to Earth, mendacity some 1,000 light-years away. It would explode sometime, although that may be at present or 1000’s of years from now. A paper in 2023 said that it would explode inside “tens of years.” That may be superb to see!
If it had been to blow up, we might see it as an extremely vibrant star, even seen in daylight for roughly a year till it light away fully, leaving a darkness the place Orion’s shoulder was. Thankfully, Earth is just too distant for this explosion to hurt, a lot much less destroy, life on Earth.
Backside line: On December 11 and 12, 2023, Betelgeuse will dim, or probably even disappear, for a number of seconds as asteroid Leona passes in entrance of it.
