Geminids and Betelgeuse

That's a great astronomical association, Paul.
It sure is well run by yourself and Terry.
Let's hope 2020 is just as great for all who attend!

We had better keep an eye on Betelgeuse for the first 5 months of 2020!

Clear skies,

Aubrey.

Thanks Aubrey! Actually Terry does much more of the work than me - I  just talk when required and look after the website:)  And do the odd bit of video production as you see  

If it was my first time looking at the stars, I would say Betelgeuse has been less prominent than Bellatrix for the last couple of nights. But the 'official' estimates are still saying mag 1.4 or 5, so still a tad brighter. Perhaps our preconceived notions are telling us that Betelgeuse 'should' be brighter. Maybe I need to ask someone who's not seen either of them before...

Finbarr.

Hi Finbarr, 

That's an interesting idea about asking someone who is not aware of the difference in magnitude between the two stars. So, if you do ask someone who fits the bill, I'd be keen to hear their response.

Clear skies, 

Darren. 

There are two estimates on the AAVSO from last night of mag 1.2 and the next estimate is 1.6... that's about a 25% difference! And there's even a 1.7 which is fainter than Bellatrix. The wide variety is quite surprising, considering a reasonable level of expertise is assumed before submitting to the AAVSO I would have thought.

Here's a photo I took on Sat evening. Now there's some haze involved and I deliberately threw the focus off to try and get a better indication of brightness. I adjusted the black level until the stars disappeared and the last two stars to go were Rigel and Bellatrix. Betelgeuse disappeared at about the same black level as the three belt stars so that puts it in th range 1.6-2.1. One thing I'm not sure of which makes it a difficult call is that of course Betelgeuse is not the same colour as any of the other stars in Orion.