Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Originally broadcast on October 9, 2021. Dr. Emily Levesque kicks off the webinar with discussing how "Betelgeuse Is Pretty Cool: Cosmic Questions for our Naked-Eye Neighbor." Dr. Levesque is an astronomy professor at the University of Washington who has observed on many of the planet’s largest telescopes and flown over the Antarctic stratosphere in an experimental aircraft for her research. Betelgeuse's "Great Dimming" in the winter of 2020 was unprecedented in observational memory. The star is a red supergiant (RSG), which is still a mysterious type of star, even to those who study them. Although ideal for studying the extremes of stellar physics, questions remain, including those regarding their evolution, and the numerous physical phenomena that drive their variability. Using Betelgeuse and its recent behavior as an archetype, Dr. Levesque's talk provides an overview of our current knowledge of RSGs, identifies some of the most pressing open questions about them, and considers the importance of studying them in the coming decade as the next generation of observatories comes online.
Following is Dariusz Kubicki, who graduated with an astronomy degree from Nicolaus Copernicus University. During his PhD, Kubicki tries to explain the mysterious nature of the EE Cephei eclipsing system, and so discusses his "International Observation Campaign of Eclipse of EE Cephei in 2020." Over 50 observers from all over the world responded to his campaign. Although burdened with large dispersion, amateur astronomers gave excellent photometric coverage of the eclipse and the brightening of the star in phase 0.2, and their data were verified. Pioneering polarimetric observations using the Savart Plates in R filter were made, which provided information about the change in total polarization and the light polarization angle of EE Cep.
Check out AAVSO and how you can make a valuable contribution to science by visiting us at aavso.org
Originally broadcast on October 9, 2021. Dr. Emily Levesque kicks off the webinar with discussing how "Betelgeuse Is Pretty Cool: Cosmic Questions for our Naked-Eye Neighbor." Dr. Levesque is an astronomy professor at the University of Washington who has observed on many of the planet’s largest telescopes and flown over the Antarctic stratosphere in an experimental aircraft for her research. Betelgeuse's "Great Dimming" in the winter of 2020 was unprecedented in observational memory. The star is a red supergiant (RSG), which is still a mysterious type of star, even to those who study them. Although ideal for studying the extremes of stellar physics, questions remain, including those regarding their evolution, and the numerous physical phenomena that drive their variability. Using Betelgeuse and its recent behavior as an archetype, Dr. Levesque's talk provides an overview of our current knowledge of RSGs, identifies some of the most pressing open questions about them, and considers the importance of studying them in the coming decade as the next generation of observatories comes online.
Following is Dariusz Kubicki, who graduated with an astronomy degree from Nicolaus Copernicus University. During his PhD, Kubicki tries to explain the mysterious nature of the EE Cephei eclipsing system, and so discusses his "International Observation Campaign of Eclipse of EE Cephei in 2020." Over 50 observers from all over the world responded to his campaign. Although burdened with large dispersion, amateur astronomers gave excellent photometric coverage of the eclipse and the brightening of the star in phase 0.2, and their data were verified. Pioneering polarimetric observations using the Savart Plates in R filter were made, which provided information about the change in total polarization and the light polarization angle of EE Cep.
Check out AAVSO and how you can make a valuable contribution to science by visiting us at aavso.org
