Space explorers have found another mystery. The Shrinking Betelgeuse! This red supergiant in the constellation of Orion appears as a bright star to the naked eye observer. It has been found to be shrinking for the last 15 years. By now it has shrunk 15% that is by the size of the Venus orbit!
Generally stars that shrink should become hotter and thus brighter. However no increase in brightness has been seen.
There are speculations, will it implode or explode?? Or maybe we are yet to learn something new in the life of stars.
Source: CNN
Comments
I myself took time pronouncing Betelgeuse as Beetle Juice!
Priyanka Dalal | 06/12/09 | 01:29 AM
I have at least twice read George Gamow’s excellent book "A Star Called the Sun" (1964). It contains the statement "One cubic centimetre of this condensed plasma or nuclear fluid would weight one hundred million tons, but there is no evidence that nuclear fluid exists anywhere in the universe today" (The first pulsar was observed in July 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Anthony Hewish.)
But this is my favourite bit in the whole book:
The author cannot help relating here an amusing story - changing, for the purpose, to the first person. Soon after the end of World War II I took my family to a ranch near Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies. We planned a long pack trip, and the question arose which of the ranch horses was strong enough to carry me through a long mountain trip (6 feet 3 inches and 220 pounds - my height and weight, not the horse’s). The only animal qualified for the task was a tall red stallion, called by the cowboys "Big Red" for lack of a better name. I decided to rename him Betelgeuse, which is a typical Red Giant star in the constellation of Orion. The star was given its name millennia ago by Arab astronomers and "Betelgeuse" in Arabic means "Shoulder of a giant" - a most appropriate name for my horse. The pack trip turned out to be very successful, and my Betelgeuse carried me faithfully each day from dawn to dusk. A number of years later we revisited that ranch. All the cowboys were new, but Betelgeuse was still there. "What is the name of that horse?" I asked. "Battle Goose, sir," answered the stable boy. "But why Battle Goose?" "Don’t know, sir, but he always was called that."