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An Extremely Rare Occultation of Betelgeuse

December 10, 2023 / Dr.Tony Phillips

Dec. 10, 2023: (Spaceweather.com) For years, astronomers have worried
that Betelgeuse might explode. Instead, it's about to disappear. On
Dec. 11th (USA) and 12th (Europe), main belt asteroid Leona will pass
directly in front of Betelgeuse, a first-magnitude star in the
shoulder of Orion. Millions of people in a narrow path stretching
from South Florida to Italy and Greece can look up and see the red
giant dim or even vanish.

[southflorida2]

Google Earth: Click to view an interactive map of the occultation
path

"This represents an extraordinary and unique opportunity to analyze
the diameter and brightness distribution of Betelgeuse with extreme
angular resolution," says astronomer J. L. Ortiz of the Instituto de
Astrofisica de Andalucia, lead author of a newly-released preprint
about the occultation.

Betelgeuse is not a typical star. Its diameter is 760 times the
sun's, so it appears as a disk 40 milliarcseconds across the sky,
much larger than most other stars. High resolution images of
Betelgeuse seem to reveal a star in turmoil with giant convection
cells bubbling up to the surface. The passage of the asteroid across
Betelgeuse may allow astronomers to map these cells and evaluate
their role in a possible future supernova explosion.

[betelgeuse_esa]

Above: Images of Betelgeuse taken by the European Southern
Observatory's Very Large Telescope

Much is unknown about this occultation. The shape of the asteroid
itself is an X-factor. In Sept. 2023, Ortiz and colleagues watched
the asteroid occult another star from 17 different locations on
Earth. They found that Leona has an oblong shape with dimensions 80 x
55 km, whereas most predictions of the occultation assume the
asteroid to be spherical. Leona's odd shape, plus the fact that it is
rotating, could produce some surprises. The occultation path may be
wider than expected, and there could be interesting "partial eclipse"
effects visible even near the center of the path.

There are huge population centers in the occultation path, especially
in south Florida where Leona's shadow crosses Miami and Fort
Lauderdale. For observers there, Betelgeuse will wink out for about
10 seconds on the evening of Dec. 11th just before 8:25 pm Eastern
Standard Time. In Europe, the occultation happens on Dec. 12th
between 1:10 UT and 1:16 UT. To find out when to look from your
location, we recommend downloading this excellent Google Earth file;
when viewing the map, click on the little dots for occultation times.

Amateur astronomers who wish to collect research quality light curves
are encouraged to read these observing tips from the International
Occultation Timing Association. For casual naked-eye observers,
here's a simple sky map.

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