Betelgeuse’s surface before and during its 2019-2020 Great Dimming. Credit: ESO / M. Montargès et al.
Betelgeuse's surface before and during its 2019-2020 Great Dimming. Credit: ESO / M. Montargès et al. An international team of astronomers, including Alex de Koter (University of Amsterdam and KU Leuven), has solved the mystery surrounding the sudden dimming of the star Betelgeuse. This large star in the constellation Orion suddenly became darker at the end of 2019, and then became brighter again in March 2020. The cause turns out to be a huge veil of dust that overshadowed the star, not an impending supernova. The team's findings are published on Thursday 7 June. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant that is nearly 20 times as massive as our Sun with an almost 1200 times greater radius.
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