Nearing the end of their life, they sit quietly for long periods of time, barely noticeable, before suddenly puffing out a cloud of smoke.
  • remotelove
    3·
    10 months ago

    Betelgeuse is a red giant doing the same thing as described in this article? I wonder what the difference is.

    • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
      41·
      10 months ago

      Good question. According to this article, the process going on with Betelgeuse does sound like the same or very similar to the process described in OP’s article.

      The great dimming [of Betelgeuse] was caused by the star spitting out a lump of gas and dust, like chewing gum: or what scientists call a “surface mass ejection” caused by an “anomalously hot convective plume”.

      OP’s article doesn’t say that the Old Smokers they found are red super-giants but since they called them old smokers, I’m inclined to think that they are. Also because they say that smoke contains much higher levels of heavy elements than is common in the region which would also be consistent with older stars. The article doesn’t say whether or not the stars puff out smoke on a regular schedule like Betelgeuse does, but then maybe they haven’t been watching them long enough to see a pattern yet.

      It does seem like they found a bunch of older stars that are pre-supernova, just like Betelgeuse is, and burping out clouds of gas and dust.

      • remotelove
        3·
        10 months ago

        I missed it at first as well. The second paragraph implies they are red giants. However, there is a distinction between a red giant and a red super-giant, if that is what you mean.

        The “peculiar” puffing behavior of these stars has never been seen before in such red giants, astrophysicist Philip Lucas told AFP.

          • remotelove
            6·
            10 months ago

            So, in my typical nature, I went right to the source and shot off an email to Professor Philip Lucas from the University of Hertfordshire. He was one of the primary researchers for the original paper. (P.W. Lucas et al.)

            If he responds, I’ll post it here.

              • remotelove
                3·
                10 months ago

                Of course! I was super curious myself.

                Teachers generally want to teach so I have had great success reaching out to various people like that.

                I don’t abuse that, of course. Keeping questions short and being respectful of their time is a huge plus, in my experience.