
Hubble telescope solves mystery of star's dimming
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New findings from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have helped astronomers to solve the mystery of why Orion's bright red supergiant Betelgeuse dramatically faded for a period of weeks last year.
The observation was published in the Feb. 4, 2021 edition of The Astronomical Journal, where the authors wrote that imaging and spectroscopy confirm a "record of high mass-loss events over the past few hundred years." "The similarity of this correspondence in VY [Canis Majoris] with the remarkable recent dimming of Betelgeuse and an outflow of gas is apparent," they said. "The evidence for similar outflows from the surface of a more typical red supergiant suggests that discrete ejections are more common and surface or convective activity is a major source of mass loss for red supergiants."More Related News