The unusual dimming of the star Betelgeuse is attracting a lot of attention at the moment. An article by Sequoyah Kennedy at Mysterious Universe draws attention to the fact that only part of the star is dimming, so that its apparent shape is changing rather dramatically:
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2020/02/w...t-weirder/
Perhaps inevitably, that article ends by mentioning the possibility that an "alien megaship" may be parked in front of Betelgeuse.
Here's an antidote to this kind of speculation, from Ethan Siegel at Forbes, which says that the kind of dimming currently being observed has never been correlated with a supernova, and that what's happening now is simply a transient "large ejection event, where matter from Betelgeuse's outer layers — originating perhaps a billion kilometers from the core — is spit out from the star's interior," which isn't unusual for supergiant stars, just remarkable from our vantage point because this star is so close and so familar to us:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswitha...4d6113ea0c
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2020/02/w...t-weirder/
Perhaps inevitably, that article ends by mentioning the possibility that an "alien megaship" may be parked in front of Betelgeuse.
Here's an antidote to this kind of speculation, from Ethan Siegel at Forbes, which says that the kind of dimming currently being observed has never been correlated with a supernova, and that what's happening now is simply a transient "large ejection event, where matter from Betelgeuse's outer layers — originating perhaps a billion kilometers from the core — is spit out from the star's interior," which isn't unusual for supergiant stars, just remarkable from our vantage point because this star is so close and so familar to us:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswitha...4d6113ea0c
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