New pulsating modes for Betelgeuse
ATel #16501; Costantino Sigismondi (ICRA/Sapienza University of Rome and ITIS G. Ferraris, Rome), Wolfgang Vollmann, Fabio Mariuzza, Rod Stubbings, Otmar Nickel (AAVSO), Alexandre Amorim (NEOA JBS), Remo Ruffini (ICRANet, Pescara)
on 4 Mar 2024; 20:08 UT
Credential Certification: Costantino Sigismondi (sigismondi@icra.it)
Subjects: Infra-Red, Optical, Request for Observations, Star, Variables
The red supergiant in Orion after the great dimming of 2020 [ATel #13341] is experiencing a new dimming phase during the last month.
Also to the naked eye observer its luminosity decreased with respect to Rigel, which is on the same azimuth, 18 degrees below, at 21:10 local time on March 4th.
The present decrease in V-band is around 6 milli-magnitudes/day, about 1/3 of the great dimming rate. [ATel #13512, ATel #13601]
Betelgeuse is now reaching the lowest luminosity in the last two years, while the star is showing irregular pulsations around 7 months,
in a 6-years modulating wave, which peaked on April 2023.
The primary period seems to be half of the one showed before the great dimming of 2020, while the modulating one remained the same.
As in the previous cases documented in the AAVSO database, with no-stop monitoring also in daytime,
will Betelgeuse get another V-shaped minimum in the forthcoming weeks?
The month of March offers the last opportunites of observing Betelgeuse in a dark sky, before the seasonal conjunction with the Sun,
both for professional and educational purposes.
Betelgeuse AAVSO V-band lightcurve 2019-2024
