![New images help solve celestial mystery of Betelgeuse's great dimming](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/210616095948-betelgeuse-great-dimming-scn-super-tease.jpg)
New images help solve celestial mystery of Betelgeuse's great dimming
CNN
The dimming of the red giant Betelgeuse, observed globally between November 2019 and March 2020, caused widespread speculation as to its cause. A new study reveals what caused the historic dimming, which some had speculated was a sign that the star was about to explode as a supernova.
The red giant, a star in the last stages of its life, experienced two significant drops in brightness, which caused some astronomers to believe that it was nearing its end and could explode in a supernova -- something that was last observed in the 17th century.![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250201190623.jpg)
Over and over at a confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Democratic senators confronted Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about controversial comments they said he had made in the past. And over and over, President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services either denied having said those things or said he wasn’t sure he had said them.
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Investigators are intensifying their search into what caused the collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, with recovery crews still working to pull wreckage from the Potomac River and initial concerns already raised about the path of at least one of the aircraft.