This Week’s Sky at a Glance, January 17 – 25


The anticenter of the Milky Way, the point opposite the galactic center in Sagittarius, lies at the junction of Taurus, Auriga and Gemini near El Nath (Beta Tauri). Face this point, and summery Sagittarius is directly behind your head.
"... Sunday, Jan. 19: Algol shines at its minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for about two hours centered on 7:25 p.m. EST. Algol takes several additional hours to rebrighten. At any random time you glance up at Algol, you have only a 1-in-30 chance of catching it at least 1 magnitude fainter than normal. Just as dawn begins on Monday morning, about 90 minutes before your local sunrise, look low in the southeast for the waning crescent Moon with Mars and Antares hanging below it. Lesser, whiter stars of Scorpius are scattered around them and to their right. Monday, Jan. 20: Dimmed Betelgeuse. The red supergiant Betelgeuse marking Orion's shoulder has always been slightly variable, but lately it has been in an unusually low dip: As of January 16th it was around visual magnitude +1.5 instead of its more typical +0.5. Its fading seems to have stopped. It's clearly fainter than Aldebaran, magnitude +0.9, with which it's often compared. Go look! This is a sight you've probably never seen before and may never again. Read Bob King's What’s Up With Betelgeuse? ..."
Sky & Telescope
W - Betelgeuse
The Truth About Betelgeuse, The Red Supergiant Star That Will Explode As A Spectacular Supernova (Video)

No comments:

Post a Comment