Observation by Peter Tickner: Betelgeuse, Rigel and Bellatrix

Uploaded by

Peter Tickner

Observer

Peter Tickner

Observed

2020 Feb 20 - 20:00

Uploaded

2020 Feb 23 - 00:20

Objects

Bellatrix
Rigel
Betelgeuse

Equipment

ZWO ASI071 MC Pro CMOS camera
14inch LX200 SCT at f/10
EQ8 mount
OAG with Lodestar X2 Autoguider
IR Cut filter

Location

Urban Berkshire

Target name

Betelgeuse

Title

Betelgeuse, Rigel and Bellatrix

About this image

This isn't scientific, especially as I had an IR Cut filter on, but I wanted to compare the relative image sizes of Betelgeuse in its current dimming phase to Rigel and Bellatrix, as the brighter the object, the larger the area it occupies on the camera image. Betelgeuse usually varies magnitude from 0 to 1.3, Rigel 0.17 to 0.22 and Bellatrix is 1.65. In the image Betelgeuse is in the centre and compared with a negative image of Rigel (the dark red outer area) in size below and Bellatrix above (with Betelgeuse in negative blue). This shows that Betelgeuse is currently much fainter than Rigel and only slightly brighter than Bellatrix.

No doubt there is a way to use the raw image data to measure actual brightness and I'd be happy to be shown how.

Peter

Files associated with this observation

Rigel Betelgeuse and Bellatrix.png (32.3 kB)

Like this image

Graham Winstanley, Dr Paul Leyland, Neil Morrison, Andy Wilson, Ron Johnson, Geof Lewis, Callum Potter

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