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The first image, made with the Hubble Space Telescope and released by NASA in August 2020, shows the red star Betelgeuse.
(Andrea Dupree (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), Ronald Gilliland (STScI), NASA and ESA)
Despite our familiarity with solar eclipses and a thorough understanding of the underlying science, witnessing a celestial event cannot but evoke a deep sense of awe and wonder. But soon, Earthlings will be in for a real world treat, coming in the form of an even rarer eclipse!
Scheduled between late Monday and early Tuesday next week (December 11-12), the spectacular event will see one of the biggest and brightest stars in the sky at night it disappeared for a while, due to the path of an asteroid ahead.
The protagonist of this natural story is Betelgeuse, a red giant that dwarfs our sun by 700 times and its brightness by a thousand times. About 700 light-years away in the constellation of Orion, this large star is visible to the naked eye and often ranks as the 10th brightest star in the night sky. .
The opponent eclipsing Betelgeuse will be the slow, oblong asteroid Leona, which comes from the main negative asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
It has never happened before that there is one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Therefore, astronomers will take full advantage of this rare opportunity to gather data on Betelgeuse and Leo.
The specifics of the eclipse, including its nature and duration, remain uncertain, mainly because of the size of Betelgeuse and its general atmosphere.
Incidents include a total eclipse, where an asteroid darkens the entire star, for about 10-15 seconds. Alternatively, the smaller asteroid could create a spectacular ‘ring of fire’ during the eclipse, revealing a red rim around Betelgeuse.
This unusual celestial sight is expected to appear on a narrow path, going from parts of the US and Mexico to North America, through places like Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain in Southern Europe, and into Asia Tajikistan, Armenia and China. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to see from India.
Interestingly, Betelgeuse, which has been known to fluctuate in light for centuries, experienced a catastrophic event in 2019. This happened when the star ejected a large amount of material from its surface. the sky, covered for a while the light with a cloud of dust. But remarkably, Betelgeuse returned to its brightest position within six months – a change that will make viewing its eclipse even more spectacular.
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