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Meteors, Mars, and a Betelgeuse Breakthrough · Star Trails: From Backyard Astronomy to Cosmic Wonder

• 0:07
  Howdy Star Gazers and welcome to this episode
• 0:10
  of Star Trails. Drew here, and I'll be your guide
• 0:14
  to the night sky for the week starting July 27th
• 0:18
  through August 2nd. This week dual meteor showers
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  have the potential to light up the sky. Mars,
• 0:26
  dances with the moon, and a recent supernova
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  may be visible depending on where you live. And
• 0:32
  later in the show, another ground -breaking discovery
• 0:35
  has likely solved one of the long -standing mysteries
• 0:39
  of the constellation Orion. Whether you're tuning
• 0:43
  in from the backyard, the balcony, or just your
• 0:46
  imagination, I'm glad you're here. So find a
• 0:49
  cozy spot, let your eyes adjust, and let's see
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  what the sky holds for us this week. Tonight
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  and tomorrow a very thin waxing crescent moon
• 1:00
  glides through the western evening sky. Tonight
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  it appears just a few degrees from Mars and by
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  the 28th it is shifted slightly to lie southeast
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  of the red planet. This makes for a simple but
• 1:14
  beautiful binocular and naked eye pairing shortly
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  after sunset. By the end of the week the moon
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  reaches its first quarter phase, rising at sunset
• 1:25
  and dominating the early evening sky, before
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  continuing to wax toward full in early August.
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  Late July brings a celestial double feature.
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  The Southern Delta Aquarids and Alpha Capricornids
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  peak during the night of July 29 into the early
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  hours of July 30. Under pre -dawn darkness, these
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  two showers can combine for as many as 25 meteors
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  per hour, with the Capricornids often producing
• 1:54
  slower moving fireballs. With a low moon just
• 1:58
  after first quarter, the dimmer meteors should
• 2:01
  still be visible, especially if you face south
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  under clear skies. From your backyard around
• 2:08
  sunset, Mars, as we've already mentioned, glows
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  in the western sky, sinking lower each night
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  as it transitions from Leo into Virgo. Saturn
• 2:19
  climbs the eastern horizon later in the evening
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  and becomes an inviting target after 10 p .m.,
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  rising higher throughout the night. In the pre
• 2:29
  -dawn eastern sky, Venus and Jupiter make for
• 2:33
  a stunning duo, with Venus blazing brightly and
• 2:36
  Jupiter steadily climbing beside it. This pairing
• 2:40
  continues into early August, setting the stage
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  for a dramatic conjunction around mid -month.
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  Let's talk about some constellations and deep
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  -sky objects. as night falls look east to spot
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  Aquila the eagle soaring higher with its brilliant
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  star Altair, forming one of the vertices of the
• 3:01
  famous summer triangle, along with stars Vega
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  and Deneb. By about 11pm, that triangle is high
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  overhead and unmistakable. Low to the south,
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  Scorpius and Sagittarius reveal a rich tapestry
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  of Milky Way star fields, nebula, and clusters,
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  especially early in the evening before they dip
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  too low. Using binoculars or a small telescope,
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  check out NGC 6709, a bright open cluster in
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  Aquila shining with dozens of stars scattered
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  across the field. You may also want to turn your
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  optics towards NGC 5634, a compact globular cluster
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  within Virgo, which presents a tight ball of
• 3:51
  faint stars just beyond what's visible to the
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  naked eye. Viewers in the southern hemisphere
• 4:04
  have been enjoying a very rare cosmic event.
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  Nova V462 lupi. Discovered back in June, it rose
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  from an invisible magnitude plus 22 star to become
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  visible to the naked eye in less than a week.
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  It peaked around magnitude 5 .5 on June 20th,
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  briefly shining as a new point of light in the
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  constellation Lupus. This explosion occurred
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  in a binary system where a white dwarf siphoned
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  gas from a companion star until reaching ignition.
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  That thermonuclear blast suddenly super brightened
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  the system without destroying the white dwarf
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  itself. Observers in the southern hemisphere
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  had the best view, but lucky stargazers in southern
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  parts of the US, including Texas, Florida, and
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  California, have also reported seeing it low
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  on the southern horizon. By late July, the NOVA
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  is still estimated around magnitude 5 .9, so
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  it's fading slightly, but remains within reach
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  using binoculars or small telescopes under dark
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  skies if you have an unobstructed southern horizon.
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  If you're located below roughly 40 to 45 degrees
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  north latitude, step outside between 10 and 11
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  pm local time. Face the south and look within
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  a few degrees of delta and beta lupi and Kappa
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  Centauri to find the nova using star -hopping
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  techniques. As always, a stargazing app such
• 5:41
  as Stellarium will help you easily locate these
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  stars. Coming up, we'll explore a new discovery
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  that has likely unlocked one of the secrets of
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  the constellation Orion. That's after the break.
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  Stay with us. It's no exaggeration to say this
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  summer has been one for the books when it comes
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  to space news. From the discovery of one of the
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  most massive comets ever spotted, to distant
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  spiral galaxies that challenge ideas of how galaxies
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  form, we've been swimming in discoveries lately.
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  And they keep coming. Today, we set our sights
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  on a red supergiant that's been a fixture in
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  our sky for centuries and a mystery that's endured
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  for just as long. We're talking about Betelgeuse,
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  the unmistakable crimson star marking the shoulder
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  of Orion. If you've spent time under winter skies,
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  you've definitely seen it, and if you've followed
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  astronomy headlines over the past few years,
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  you've maybe heard about its antics, from unexpected
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  dimming events to speculation that it might be
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  gearing up for a supernova. But one mystery surrounding
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  Betelgeuse has remained unsolved until now. Astronomers
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  have long known that Betelgeuse pulses and varies
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  in brightness. It swells and contracts on a regular
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  cycle of about 400 days. That's not unusual for
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  a star in its late stages of life. But Betelgeuse
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  also shows a second, far slower rhythm, brightening
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  and dimming over the course of about six years.
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  For decades, this longer cycle has baffled scientists.
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  This summer, researchers may have finally cracked
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  the case. Using a cutting -edge, high -resolution
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  imager attached to the Gemini North Telescope
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  in Hawaii, astronomers caught sight of something
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  hiding in plain sight. A small, faint companion
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  star nestled right up against Betelgeuse's glowing
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  atmosphere. It's being nicknamed Betel Buddy,
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  and it might be the key to solving this thousand
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  -year -old puzzle. Betelgeuse is so massive and
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  bright that spotting a companion is incredibly
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  difficult. It's like trying to see a firefly
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  next to a spotlight. But the Gemini North Scope
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  is designed for exactly this kind of work. Using
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  rapid -fire exposures to cancel out atmospheric
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  turbulence, it was able to tease out the faint
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  signature of a blue -white star orbiting close
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  to Betelgeuse. This tiny companion is thought
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  to be a young, hot star about one and a half
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  times the mass of our Sun. That makes it minuscule
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  compared to Betelgeuse, which is hundreds of
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  times the Sun's diameter, and so distended it's
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  practically spilling into space. But what this
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  smaller star lacks in size, it makes up for in
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  drama. The discovery helps explain the strange
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  six -year cycle. As the companion star orbits,
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  it moves through Betelgeuse's thick cloud of
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  expelled dust and gas, essentially clearing a
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  temporary path, like a snowplow, carving a lane
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  through a fog of cosmic debris. When this happens,
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  more of Betelgeuse's light reaches us here on
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  Earth, making the star appear brighter for a
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  time. Once the companion continues on its orbit
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  and the dust drifts back in, Betelgeuse dims
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  again. This orbital dance appears to happen every
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  2100 days, just about six years, perfectly matching
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  the observed long -period variation. But there's
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  more. The two stars are shockingly close. The
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  companion star lies just about four astronomical
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  units away from Betelgeuse, or roughly the distance
• 10:02
  from our Sun to Jupiter. That's a very tight
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  orbit for a red supergiant and a recipe for cosmic
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  intimacy. Tidal forces are already at play, and
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  simulations suggest Betelgeuse may one day engulf
• 10:18
  its companion entirely. If that happens, we could
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  witness a kind of stellar cannibalism, the slow
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  spiraling merger of two stars. Maybe within the
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  next 10 ,000 years, beetle buddy could become
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  one with the beast. Interestingly, this is the
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  first time astronomers have directly imaged a
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  close companion orbiting a red supergiant, which
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  is something that was only theoretical until
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  now. It shows that some of the long -term brightness
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  variations we see in giant stars may not be caused
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  by internal pulsations alone, but by the gravitational
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  influence of a companion. stirring up their outer
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  layers. Betelgeuse, which once seemed like a
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  lone giant nearing the end of its life, is now
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  revealed to be part of a binary system, and that
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  changes the way we think about its future and
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  its past. In 2027, the companion star will swing
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  around to the far side of its orbit, reaching
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  its maximum separation from Betelgeuse. That
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  will be the next big opportunity for astronomers
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  to observe and study it again, possibly with
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  even greater detail. So the next time you spot
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  that glowing red dot in Orion, remember, Beetlejuice
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  has company. And it's not just putting on a solo
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  act, it's dancing with a partner, one we've only
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  just discovered after centuries of watching and
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  wondering. If the stars spoke to you this week,
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  or if a question's been on your mind, I'd love
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  to hear it. Visit our website, StarTrails .Show,
• 12:02
  where you can contact me and explore past episodes.
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  Be sure to follow us on Blue Sky and YouTube.
• 12:09
  Links are in the show notes. Until we meet again
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  beneath the stars, clear skies everyone.