Did Betelgeuse, the suspected star to supernova, change color?

I'm currently here near Dayton Ohio at Wright-Patterson AFB. While on air maneuvers, I noticed that, at least to me, Betelgeuse has changed to more of an orange color than usual. If there are any astronomers out there, could you please tell me that, even though we have unlimited visibility looking East, that this is just an atmospheric anomaly.
Violator1 out.

reply to post by Violater1


Unlimited visibility for the Betelgeuse? What times of the day are you viewing this? Just want to see it for myself. Thx

reply to post by packinupngoin

Just got out of debriefing about 30 minutes ago. So it would have been over an hour ago. Look at it right now. It defiantly looks more orange than usual.

reply to post by Violater1


I'm about 6 hours south of you. I don't think there is any change. You have to keep in consideration that all these allegations about betelguese going supernova right now aren't really based on anything solid. I would love to see it, but I think it is just another "prophecy" type idea for people to grab onto.

Betelguese normally blinks constantly red and blue and is (i believe) orion's shoulder.

reply to post by Violater1


I have just started to pay it more attention in the last few days since the post about it. I'd like to say you are correct. It seems more pronounced and orange to me, but I think it may just be that I am trying to find a descrepency with it. I hope an astronomer can verify/eliminate your theory. I would like to know for sure. There sure are some interesting things happening in our world these days.

Pardons requested for being miles behind the topic. That star (because I'm not sure how to spell it) is the top left "armpit" of Orion, correct?


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I have noticed Betelgeuse looking very red lately, so much so that I thought it must be Mars until I looked in Stellarium and confirmed it was Betelgeuse looking so red. Definitely more so than usual. And this was before I became aware that Betelgeuse is expected to go nova sometime in the near (speaking in stellar time) future.

I don't think it has changed it's color but it would be interesting if they did another surface imaging of the star. Here is something from way back in 97 when they did just that for those interested.www.mrao.cam.ac.uk...


From what I have read it is unlikely that this star will explode, and every time I have observed Orion it and Rigel are perfectly nominal. If these overcast skies clear I will take a look and see again. But Beetgeuse is an extremely volatile star here is a great high res pic of the star to show just that. Sorry I do not know how to cite, or post pics yet, me and technology equals fail. www.dailymail.co.uk...

Originally posted by network dude
reply to post by Violater1

 

I have just started to pay it more attention in the last few days since the post about it. I'd like to say you are correct. It seems more pronounced and orange to me, but I think it may just be that I am trying to find a descrepency with it. I hope an astronomer can verify/eliminate your theory. I would like to know for sure. There sure are some interesting things happening in our world these days.

Are you able to see Betelgeuse now?
I went out for an hour just to look at all of the stars. And Betelgeuse does seem to be more of an orangery color.

Originally posted by philosearcher
Pardons requested for being miles behind the topic. That star (because I'm not sure how to spell it) is the top left "armpit" of Orion, correct?

 

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Correct.

i was viewing orion last night from nyc - very clear cold sky - and made also noticed the more reddish hue of betelgeuse

Originally posted by tonypazzohome
i was viewing orion last night from nyc - very clear cold sky - and made also noticed the more reddish hue of betelgeuse

I'm very familiar with the constellations, but didn't want to sound like a know-it-all. The color of Betelgeuse has changed.

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
reply to post by Violater1

 

I'm about 6 hours south of you. I don't think there is any change. You have to keep in consideration that all these allegations about betelguese going supernova right now aren't really based on anything solid. I would love to see it, but I think it is just another "prophecy" type idea for people to grab onto.

Betelguese normally blinks constantly red and blue and is (i believe) orion's shoulder.

Hmm, that's interesting. I've seen Sirius do that but not Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse has always looked whitish orange. Now it's orange.

Originally posted by Violater1

Originally posted by philosearcher
Pardons requested for being miles behind the topic. That star (because I'm not sure how to spell it) is the top left "armpit" of Orion, correct?

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

Correct.

Actually, the "armpit" name only came about because people translating from Arabic into Greek got it wrong. No culture has ever independently thought it was his armpit without this misunderstanding of Arabic coming into play; they've all seen it as his right shoulder (if he's facing us). But the "armpit" name stuck in people's heads so much since then that it's common to hear it as that in English-speaking countries (not in Arabic ones, however).

reply to post by Violater1


Hmm.. I know Sirius blinks aswell, but I have always seen betelguese blink. In the summer it is huge and changes colors violently. It is in fact in Orion right? Because if that is correct then it is the star that blinks red in blue in my sky.

After doing a little research, I think this is more to do with our atmospheric conditions than anything. I get a lot of results for BG being "red-orange", so obviously the color possibility is there, and I'm reminded of the fantastic sunsets we get when a volcano goes off across the world, or like we did when the oil wells were burning in Iraq. You're probably seeing it shining a different color than you're used to because in your neck of the woods, atmospheric conditions usually show it more red. We've all seen recently, however, how crazy the weather patterns have been, and I think this has brought some particles and such your way that aren't usually there this time of year, so the difference in BG's color is more striking to you. What do you think?

Originally posted by 00nunya00
After doing a little research, I think this is more to do with our atmospheric conditions than anything. I get a lot of results for BG being "red-orange", so obviously the color possibility is there, and I'm reminded of the fantastic sunsets we get when a volcano goes off across the world, or like we did when the oil wells were burning in Iraq. You're probably seeing it shining a different color than you're used to because in your neck of the woods, atmospheric conditions usually show it more red. We've all seen recently, however, how crazy the weather patterns have been, and I think this has brought some particles and such your way that aren't usually there this time of year, so the difference in BG's color is more striking to you. What do you think?

Well if it were a blanket atmospheric color change, then Bellatrix, Rigel, and the other stars would be tinted orange as well. But they are not. Bellatrix is as white as ever. But thank you for your input.

If, as apparently observed, BG Has color-shifted to a deeper red-orange, would that mean that it has cooled?

Would a star's cooling be consistent with the depletion of its nuclear fuel?


In short, if BG has finally run out of fuel and has started to cool, would this be an indication that its transition to a possible super nova be more immenent?

reply to post by Violater1


Fair enough. Then it can't be anything more than you scrutinizing BG differently than you have in the past. If it had, indeed, changed color, there would be astronomical evidence of this. Perhaps that will be forthcoming, but I haven't heard anything about it yet, and I'm guessing it probably didn't just change last night or the night before. That would be statistically improbable, and observed and blogged about extensively. People are actually looking at this star through telescopes, so I'd think they would have noticed and it would be pretty big news to the astro community, being on supernova watch and all. I think it's just your imagination.

There is a fundamental scientific flaw in this whole Betelgeuse Supernova "second sun for two weeks" idea. This star is about 500 light years away ( not sure of the exact distance) from earth. So the light from Betelgeuse takes about 500 years to travel from there, to the Earth's surface.

What this means is that if Betelgeuse were to supernova when this "theory" claims it will, then we would not see it on earth for 500 years. Even with our best telescopes... It would take quite some time for us to see any real change in the star...

So, maybe if it super nova'd 500 years ago... we would see something... But if it were to do so right now, we would not...

That is one interesting fact about stars. It is in a sense, a window into the past. Because the light from the stars that we see, actually first shone (shined?) long ago.

That is, if I am not mistaken on the distance. If I am, please feel free to correct me.

More or less, what I am getting at is, for this "theory" to take place, it would have to defy physics.

But again, please correct me if I am mistaken.