It has largely been more about a prominent bright star Betelgeuse reportedly occulting by the steroid Leona on Dec. 11 for merely ten seconds thus temporarily vanishing from visual sight, a spectacle observable along a narrow path on Earth.
This irregular mysterious occultation will bring about Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the sky, invisible or at least exceptionally dimmed for several seconds. The star Betelgeuse, also known as Alpha Orionis, is a significant component of the Orion constellation, labelling the hunter’s red right shoulder.
However, the path of the totality, where the occultation will be noticeable, extends across a narrow band starting near Guadalajara, Mexico and also extends throughout south Florida, the Bahamas, southern parts of Spain and Italy, regions in Greece, Turkey, and Central Asia respectively.
Betelgeuse, a red supergiant approximately 550 light-years from Earth, is famous for its size, luminosity, and a penchant for baffling astronomers with sudden and unexpected drops in brightness. Its classification as a semi-regular variable star and its eventual fate as a supernova make it a subject of avid interest in the astronomical community.
The upcoming occultation offers a unique chance to observe and understand the behaviour and characteristics of such a massive star. Lasting for practically as many as 18 minutes, the occultation will start at 8:08 p.m. ET and end at 8:26 p.m. ET (December 12 at 01:08:23 UT to 01:26:00 UT).