Betelgeuse dimming doesn't mean it's about to explode

 

The star Betelgeuse, which is one shoulder of Orion, is a red supergiant and very bright. I have always been told that it could go supernova at any time. Now 4 years ago, it started dimming and people were wondering. The July 2022 edition of Physics World contains a nice explanation based on the realisation that a Japanese weather satellite always has it in view. So they were able to go through images back to 2017 and concluded that part of the star surface had cooled and had stopped warming a gas cloud close by, which then condensed into obscuring dust. Shame! It would be a great spectacle to see it go supernova.