By Katie Hunt, CNN
Betelgeuse, a bright star visible in the Orion constellation in the night sky, has beguiled and puzzled space scientists since late 2019.
a supernova — something that was last observed in the 17th century.
However, scientists now believe these dimming events occurred because of dust clouds. New images of the star’s surface clearly show how its brightness changed, helping astronomers fully understand what caused what they describe as a “great dimming.”
“For once, we were seeing the appearance of a star changing in real time on a scale of weeks,” said Miguel Montargès, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Observatoire de Paris, France, and the Institute of Astronomy