New findings from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have helped astronomers solve the mystery of why Orion’s bright red supergiant Betelgeuse faded dramatically for a period of weeks last year.
In investigating the massive red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris, astrophysicists from NASA and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis found that the same processes are taking place on a much larger scale.
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The observation was published in the issue of The Astronomical Journal on February 4, 2021, where the authors wrote that imaging and spectroscopy confirm a “record of major mass loss events over the past few hundred years”.
“The agreement with this correspondence in VY [Canis Majoris] with the striking recent eclipse of Betelgeuse and an outflow of gas it is clear, “they said. The evidence for similar outflows from a more typical red supergiant’s surface suggests that discrete ejections are more common and that surface or convective activity is an important source. of mass loss for red supergiants. ‘
In a Thursday press release from NASA, the University of Minnesota’s leading professor Roberta Humphreys explained that Hubble data shows that VY Canis Majoris behaved like Betelgeuse ‘on steroids’.
This artist’s impression of the hypergiant star VY Canis Majoris reveals the star’s large convection cells and giant arcs. Credits: NASA, ESA and R. Humphreys (University of Minnesota) and J. Olmsted (STScI)
In the case of the smaller star, researchers say the eclipse was due to the outflow of gas that may have formed dust that temporarily obstructed the star’s light.
“I think the biggest takeaway for these results is that the massive ejection or outflow of the star into the [Hubble] images and measurements in the spectra are correlated with periods of great volatility and deep minima in the light observed over two centuries, “Humphreys told Fox News on Friday.
“We think it is due to activity or convection on the surface that is responsible for massive gas ejections,” she continued. “We know, for example, that the sun has flares and an eruption of gas flow that we consider celebrities.”
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“In VY Canis Majoris – 30 [times the] mass of [the] sun and 300,000 more light – it’s much more extreme, “she said. This gas flow can be as much as ten times the mass of Jupiter. “
Arcs of plasma surround VY Canis Majoris, which is apparently driven away by distances thousands of times farther away than the earth is from the sun and over the past few hundred years.
However, other structures near the million-year-old star – which look like knots – are relatively compact and scientists working with Humphrey could date more recent eruptions in the 19th and 20th centuries when VY Canis Majoris faded to one. sixth of its original brightness.
In the release, it is noted that the hypergiant lost 100 times as much mass at Betelgeuse and that it is now only visible with the help of a telescope.
“It probably occurs more in red supergiants than scientists thought, and VY Canis Majoris is an extreme example,” she said in the release. “It could even be the main mechanism driving the mass loss, which has always been a mystery to red supergiants.”
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The future of the start is uncertain, but Humphreys said the star is “naturally unstable”.
“This huge mass loss will determine its ultimate fate as a supernova or black hole,” she said.