Who Turned Off the Lights on Betelgeuse? | ESO

Who Turned Off the Lights on Betelgeuse? | ESO

ESOcast 238 Light: When Betelgeuse, a bright orange star in the constellation of Orion, became visibly darker in late 2019 and early 2020, the astronomy community was puzzled. A team of astronomers have now published new research done with ESO's Very Large Telescope and Very Large Telescope interferometer that solves the mystery of Betelgeuse's dimming. This ESOcast Light summarizes the discovery.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Directed by: Herbert Zodet and Martin Wallner

Editing: Herbert Zodet

Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida

Written by: Thea Elvin, Anna Purdue, Giulio Mazzolo and Bárbara Ferreira

Footage and photos: ESO, P. Kervella, M. Montargès et al., L. Calçada, Digitized Sky Survey 2 Acknowledgement: E. Pantin, N. Risinger and P. Horálek

Scientific consultants: Paola Amico and Mariya Lyubenova

Duration: 1 minute, 21 seconds

Release Date: June 16, 2021

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