Fading Star

Getting “home for the holidays” gave me a chance to see the stars from the countryside. Even with less light pollution in the way, though, I’m still not that good at identifying constellations: after recognizing the asterism of the Big Dipper and following the pointers to the pole star, I was pretty much limited to spotting Orion, although if I’d looked for it I think I could have found Cassiopeia.

It took getting back from vacation and looking at the astronomy sites I follow, however, to see notices of the red star in Orion Betelgeuse fading. This news has been punched up a bit by reminders Betelgeuse is close in astronomical terms to going supernova, even if there are reassurances it’s far away enough to not threaten life on Earth. At the moment I’m wondering more if the star will be brighter again when I next get out into the country.