Betelguese’s Brightening Raises Hopes for a Supernova Spectacle(scientificamerican.com)
scientificamerican.com
Betelguese’s Brightening Raises Hopes for a Supernova Spectacle
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/betelgueses-brightening-raises-hopes-for-a-supernova-spectacle/
The brightening is actually a return to normal brightness, from a recent decrease due to dust in the way.
From Wikipedia :
“Starting in October 2019, Betelgeuse began to dim noticeably, and by mid-February 2020 its brightness had dropped by a factor of approximately 3, from magnitude 0.5 to 1.7. It then returned to a more normal brightness range, reaching a peak of 0.0 visual and 0.1 V-band magnitude in April 2023.[19] Infrared observations found no significant change in luminosity over the last 50 years, suggesting that the dimming was due to a change in extinction around the star rather than a more fundamental change. A study using the Hubble Space Telescope suggests that occluding dust was created by a surface mass ejection. This cast material millions of miles from the star that then cooled to form the dust that caused the star's dimming.”