Current:Home > InvestBetelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the sky, will vanish in a one-of-a-kind eclipse soon. Here's how to watch it.-InfoLens
Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the sky, will vanish in a one-of-a-kind eclipse soon. Here's how to watch it.
View Date:2024-12-23 11:50:30
One of the biggest and brightest stars in the night sky will momentarily vanish as an asteroid passes in front of it to produce a one-of-a-kind eclipse. The event should be visible to millions of people and it will also be livestreamed.
The rare and fleeting spectacle, late Monday into early Tuesday, will likely be visible to people along a narrow path stretching from central Asia's Tajikistan and Armenia, across Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain, to Miami and the Florida Keys and finally, to parts of Mexico.
The star is Betelgeuse, a red supergiant in the constellation Orion. The asteroid is 319 Leona, a slowly rotating, oblong space rock in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
How far is Betelgeuse from Earth?
An estimated 700 light-years away, Betelgeuse is visible with the naked eye. Binoculars and small telescopes will enhance the view. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.
When will Betelgeuse explode?
Scientists expect Betelgeuse to go supernova in a violent explosion within 100,000 years.
Astronomers hope to learn more about Betelgeuse and Leona through the eclipse, which is expected to last no more than 15 seconds.
"For a very short time, we will see the legendary Orion constellation without its famous, orange shoulder, as it will be in the distant future, once Betelgeuse will have exploded as a supernova and faded to black," according to the Virtual Telescope Project, which will provide a live webcast from Italy.
By observing an eclipse of a much dimmer star by Leona in September, a Spanish-led team recently estimated the asteroid to be about 34 miles wide and 50 miles long.
There are lingering uncertainties over those predictions as well as the size of the star and its expansive atmosphere. It's unclear if the asteroid will obscure the entire star, producing a total eclipse. Rather, the result could be a "ring of fire" eclipse with a miniscule blazing border around the star. If it's a total eclipse, astronomers aren't sure how many seconds the star will disappear completely, perhaps up to 10 seconds.
"Which scenario we will see is uncertain, making the event even more intriguing," said astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project.
How to watch the eclipse
Viewers can watch a livestream of the event hosted by the telescope project. The livestream is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. EST on Monday.
According to Sky & Telescope, the eclipse will occur at around 8:17 p.m. EST.
"This kind of occultations are very useful to constrain the shape of the asteroid involved," said Masi. "Here, we hope to even investigate the surface of the involved star, too: Betelgeuse. It is a large red supergiant and while Leona will move in front of it as seen from Earth, we will be hopefully able to learn more about its large convective cells, driving its variable brightness."
Betelgeuse is thousands of times brighter than our sun and some 700 times bigger. It's so huge that if it replaced our sun, it would stretch beyond Jupiter, according to NASA.
At just 10 million years old, Betelgeuse is considerably younger than the 4.6 billion-year-old sun. Scientists expect Betelgeuse to be short-lived, given its mass and the speed at which it's burning through its material.
After countless centuries of varying brightness, Betelgeuse dimmed dramatically in 2019 when a huge bunch of surface material was ejected into space. The resulting dust cloud temporarily blocked the starlight, NASA said, and within a half year, Betelgeuse was as bright as before.
- In:
- Star
- Asteroid
veryGood! (42)
Related
- Certifying this year’s presidential results begins quietly, in contrast to the 2020 election
- Alabama inmate who fatally shot man during 1993 robbery is executed
- Drake's new EP features song praising Taylor Swift
- Woman accused of involvement in death of child found in suitcase in Indiana makes a plea deal
- Teachers in 3 Massachusetts communities continue strike over pay, paid parental leave
- The story behind the Osama bin Laden videos on TikTok
- Texas hiker rescued after going missing in Big Bend National Park, officials say
- ChatGPT-maker Open AI pushes out co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, says he wasn’t ‘consistently candid’
- Saving for retirement? How to account for Social Security benefits
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs and singer Cassie settle lawsuit alleging abuse
Ranking
- The Cowboys, claiming to be 'all in' prior to Dak Prescott's injury, are in a rare spot: Irrelevance
- Gospel singer Bobbi Storm nearly kicked off Delta flight for refusing to stop singing
- Is the right to free speech being curbed in Israel amid the war with Hamas?
- Former NBA stars convicted of defrauding the league's health insurance of millions
- Residents urged to shelter in place after apparent explosion at Louisville business
- Harry Styles' Mom Has a Golden Response to Criticism Over His New Haircut
- 'Once-in-a-lifetime dream': Mariah Carey gushes over her own Barbie doll
- Unions, Detroit casinos reach deal that could end strike
Recommendation
-
Suicides in the US military increased in 2023, continuing a long-term trend
-
QB Joe Burrow is out for the season. What it means for Bengals.
-
California Interstate 10 reopens Tuesday, several weeks ahead of schedule
-
Censored art from around the world finds a second opportunity at a Barcelona museum for banned works
-
Pistons' Tim Hardaway Jr. leaves in wheelchair after banging head on court
-
Dana Carvey’s Wife Paula Remembers “Beautiful Boy” Dex After His Death at 32
-
NFL host Charissa Thompson says on social media she didn’t fabricate quotes by players or coaches
-
Ravens TE Mark Andrews suffered likely season-ending ankle injury, John Harbaugh says