An Extraordinarily Uncommon Occultation of Betelgeuse

Dec. 10, 2023: (Spaceweather.com) For years, astronomers have nervous that Betelgeuse would possibly explode. As a substitute, it’s about to vanish. On Dec. eleventh (USA) and twelfth (Europe), most important belt asteroid Leona will move instantly in entrance of Betelgeuse, a first-magnitude star within the shoulder of Orion. Hundreds of thousands of individuals in a narrow path stretching from South Florida to Italy and Greece can search for and see the crimson large dim and even vanish.

Google Earth: Click to view an interactive map of the occultation path

“This represents a rare and distinctive alternative to investigate the diameter and brightness distribution of Betelgeuse with excessive angular decision,” says astronomer J. L. Ortiz of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, lead writer of a newly-released preprint concerning the occultation.

Betelgeuse isn’t a typical star. Its diameter is 760 occasions the solar’s, so it seems as a disk 40 milliarcseconds throughout the sky, a lot bigger than most different stars. Excessive decision photos of Betelgeuse appear to disclose a star in turmoil with large convection cells effervescent as much as the floor. The passage of the asteroid throughout Betelgeuse could enable astronomers to map these cells and consider their position in a doable future supernova explosion.

Above: Photos of Betelgeuse taken by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Massive Telescope

A lot is unknown about this occultation. The form of the asteroid itself is an X-factor. In Sept. 2023, Ortiz and colleagues watched the asteroid occult one other star from 17 totally different places on Earth. They discovered that Leona has an oblong shape with dimensions 80 x 55 km, whereas most predictions of the occultation assume the asteroid to be spherical. Leona’s odd form, plus the truth that it’s rotating, may produce some surprises. The occultation path could also be wider than anticipated, and there could possibly be fascinating “partial eclipse” results seen even close to the middle of the trail.

There are big inhabitants facilities within the occultation path, particularly in south Florida the place Leona’s shadow crosses Miami and Fort Lauderdale. For observers there, Betelgeuse will wink out for about 10 seconds on the night of Dec. eleventh simply earlier than 8:25 pm Japanese Normal Time. In Europe, the occultation occurs on Dec. twelfth between 1:10 UT and 1:16 UT. To search out out when to look out of your location, we suggest downloading this wonderful Google Earth file; when viewing the map, click on on the little dots for occultation occasions.

Newbie astronomers who want to gather analysis high quality gentle curves are inspired to read these observing tips from the Worldwide Occultation Timing Affiliation. For informal naked-eye observers, right here’s a simple sky map.