I just went and did a visual estimate and would put it at about 1.1 to 1.2. It appeared about as bright as Pollux, but it was at 20 degree vs. 50 degrees for Pollux so maybe 1.0 at the brightest. It looked brighter than Elnath (1.6) and brighter than Alhena (1.9) but much less bright than Saturn (0.11). This was from suburban light pollution. I think this supports the notion it is fainter? Michael Koppelman On Monday, April 21, 2003, at 09:32 PM, Taichi Kato wrote: > There have been a domestic "breaking news" stating that Betelgeuse > is > extremely faint. I received this news both electronically and by a > snail > mail. The news tells that the star is the *faintest* in the past > decade. The news has been widely relayed throughout the astronomical > community in this country, and is becoming "a big news" -- just like a > naked-eye discovery of a bright nova -- some people indeed confirmed > the > claimed fading (but the others have not). 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...?]
Return to the Powerful Daisaku Nogami
vsnet-adm@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp