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> We even received a report today > that Betelgeuse has dramatically faded to a second-magnitude star(!). > [There is even a rumor that the star may disappear...?] > > Although I haven't had a chance to check its magnitude, is the star > this faint? Perhaps we need to follow the object even in daytime before > the star completely fades away .. ;-) ;-)) This is a good one! Yes, Betelgeuse is the faintest I have seen it since I started observing back in 1994, but it's still brighter than its 1.3 recorded extreme minimum. This is an extract from my records of this fading. This is a good chance to express how different it is to display a lightcurve with data to 2 decimal places instead of only one, specially for small amplitude variables. All my records show 2 decimal places although I only report a few naked eye stars this way to vsnet. Betelgeuse's fading: 2685.520 0.62 2695.531 0.67 2696.490 0.71 2701.472 0.74 2703.516 0.77 2711.480 0.80 2715.494 0.84 2716.477 0.85 2719.476 0.86 2721.472 0.86 2726.499 0.91 2729.472 0.93 2737.480 0.98 2739.456 1.01 2740.450 1.02 2744.486 0.98 2746.443 0.98 Not a second magnitude star!!!!! Regards, Sebastian.
Return to the Powerful Daisaku Nogami
vsnet-adm@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp
