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Why one of the brightest stars in the sky mysteriously started to dim - Livescience.com
Jun 20, 2021 49 secs

In the fall of 2019, Betelgeuse — one of the brightest and best-known stars in the sky — began dimming dramatically.

Related: The brightest stars in the sky: A starry countdown.

"Our results confirm that the Great Dimming is not an indication of Betelgeuse’s imminent explosion as a supernova," Montargès and his colleagues wrote in the new study, which was published online today (June 16) in the journal Nature.

"Therefore, although the current mass-loss behavior of Betelgeuse does not appear to forebode its demise, it remains possible that it may explode without warning.".

The new research could have applications beyond merely understanding Betelgeuse, which lies about 720 light-years from Earth (though calculations of its distance vary a bit), astronomer Emily Levesque wrote in an accompanying "News and Views" piece in the same issue of Nature. .

"This exquisitely detailed study of Betelgeuse’s unexpected behavior lays the groundwork for unravelling the properties of an entire population of stars," wrote Levesque, who's based at the University of Washington.

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