A dusty veil shading Betelgeuse during its Great Dimming
Montarges, M; Cannon, E; Lagadec, E; et al.de Koter, A; Kervella, P; Sanchez-Bermudez, J; Paladini, C; Cantalloube, F; Decin, L; Scicluna, P; Kravchenko, K; Dupree, AK; Ridgway, S; Wittkowski, M; Anugu, N; Norris, R; Rau, G; Perrin, G; Chiavassa, A; Kraus, S; Monnier, JD; Millour, F; Le Bouquin, J-B; Haubois, X; Lopez, B; Stee, P; Danchi, W
Date: 16 June 2021
Journal
Nature
Publisher
Nature Research
Publisher DOI
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Abstract
Red supergiants represent the most common final stage of the evolution of stars with initial masses between 8 and 30-35
times the mass of the Sun. During this phase of lifetime lasting ≈ 105 yrs, they experience substantial mass loss of unknown
mechanism. This mass loss can affect their evolutionary path, collapse, future supernova ...
Red supergiants represent the most common final stage of the evolution of stars with initial masses between 8 and 30-35
times the mass of the Sun. During this phase of lifetime lasting ≈ 105 yrs, they experience substantial mass loss of unknown
mechanism. This mass loss can affect their evolutionary path, collapse, future supernova light curve, and ultimate fate as a
neutron star or a black hole. From November 2019 to March 2020, the second closest red supergiant (RSG, 222+48
−34 pc) Betelgeuse experienced a historic dimming of its visible brightness, witnessed worldwide. Usually between 0.1 and 1.0 mag, it
went down to 1.614±0.008 mag around 7-13 February 2020. Here we report high angular resolution observations showing
that the southern hemisphere of the star was ten times darker than usual in the visible. Observations and modeling support
the scenario of a dust clump recently formed in the vicinity of the star due to a local temperature decrease in a cool patch
appearing on the photosphere. The directly imaged brightness variations of Betelgeuse evolved on a timescale of weeks. This
event suggests that an inhomogeneous component of red supergiant mass loss is linked to a very contrasted and rapidly
changing photosphere.
Physics and Astronomy
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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