Betelgeuse brightness

[Bmpbmp1975]

So my post was closed before I can respond to your comment

Good question, do you mean if Betelgeuse's next peak in brightness will be as bright as previously recorded peaks? I do not yet have an opinion:

I made a plot from Betelgeuse brightness data from 1997. From that we see that the maximum brightness in each cycle does not deviate very much. So given the lifespan of stars and the rather consistent behaviour in the data I've available I have no reason to predict that anything special is happening in the next cycle. But note that the last minimum deviates a little and that we at this time we are near the minimum brightness, It has just recently been suggested that the brightness is increasing again. Hence I will not try to predict the next maximum brightness from recent data yet. 

Data and plot thanks to https://www.aavso.org/

 

From what I see in the graph and the twitter link you provided , it kind of looks like it is brightening again. 
 

question I have is since it goes through these phases of dimming and brightening during the brightening phases does it go back to its initial state prior to dimming or is the brighteness lower than previous?

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by Bmpbmp1975

[Strange]

11 minutes ago, Bmpbmp1975 said:

question I have is since it goes through these phases of dimming and brightening during the brightening phases does it go back to its initial state prior to dimming or is the brighteness lower than previous?

As you can see from the graph, sometime the bright part of the cycle is dimmer and sometimes it is brighter. 

[Bmpbmp1975]

7 minutes ago, Strange said:

As you can see from the graph, sometime the bright part of the cycle is dimmer and sometimes it is brighter. 

Sorry I may not have asked my question properly 

when it normally goes through it’s 420 day dimming phase then goes back to its brightening phase does it actually ever go back to its original brightness?

 

ah I think I saw what you meant sorry. It usually goes back to original 

now question it seems to have dimmed a lot more than it normal would in it previous cycle but I did read this was over 25 years. But I believe I also read that this is not the dimmest in the past 100 years is that true 

Edited February 23, 2020 by Bmpbmp1975

[Strange]

10 hours ago, Bmpbmp1975 said:

ah I think I saw what you meant sorry. It usually goes back to original 

But sometimes it goes back to being brighter and sometimes dimmer. 

10 hours ago, Bmpbmp1975 said:

now question it seems to have dimmed a lot more than it normal would in it previous cycle but I did read this was over 25 years. But I believe I also read that this is not the dimmest in the past 100 years is that true 

There is a long term graph here: https://twitter.com/EricMamajek/status/1208176941502590976?s=20

It doesn't look that unusual. It appears to have got this dim in the 1980s. And presumably many times in the past. It is a variable star. So varying is what it does.

Quote

Betelgeuse is a well-known variable star, whose brightness ups and downs have been tracked for years by amateur and professional astronomers working with the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). That’s why we know that there are multiple cycles for Betelgeuse’s rising and falling brightness. It’s conceivable that – when the minima of all the cycles come together – the star could look exceptionally faint, as it does now.

https://earthsky.org/space/betelgeuse-fainting-probably-not-about-to-explode

Looks like the dimming may be over:

Quote

Based on these and additional observations, Betelgeuse has definitely stopped dimming and has started to slowly brighten. Thus this "fainting" episode is over but additional photometry is needed to define the brightening phase. 

http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=13512

[Bmpbmp1975]

4 hours ago, Strange said:

But sometimes it goes back to being brighter and sometimes dimmer. 

There is a long term graph here: https://twitter.com/EricMamajek/status/1208176941502590976?s=20

It doesn't look that unusual. It appears to have got this dim in the 1980s. And presumably many times in the past. It is a variable star. So varying is what it does.

https://earthsky.org/space/betelgeuse-fainting-probably-not-about-to-explode

Looks like the dimming may be over:

http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=13512

I assume the brightness phase is also about 420 days?

[Strange]

8 minutes ago, Bmpbmp1975 said:

I assume the brightness phase is also about 420 days?

The overall cycle: bright-dim-bright (or dim-bright-dim) is around 420 days. Most of that period is bright with shorter (variable length) dimmer periods. 

There seem to be different processes with slightly different periods which is one reason for the great variability in the variations 

[Bmpbmp1975]

I do know that at one point Betelgeuse was dimmer than Bellatrix and now it seems to be brighter than it.

i guess no supernova just yet 

Edited February 23, 2020 by Bmpbmp1975

[Bmpbmp1975]

Can you see it with a good digital camera, which area would you look in

[hypervalent_iodine]

!

Moderator Note

Your thread was closed because members and staff were sick of your trolling. I'm issuing you a vacation until next month, please use it wisely.