Posted: Jun 30, 2020 9:36 am
The dimming appears to have been a "surface" event (like a large sunspot) and not caused by dust after all...
BBC story
BBC story
Betelgeuse: Nearby 'supernova' star's dimming explained
By Paul Rincon
Science editor, BBC News website
29 June 2020
Astronomers say big cool patches on a "supergiant" star close to Earth were behind its surprise dimming last year.
Red giant stars like Betelgeuse frequently undergo changes in brightness, but the drop to 40% of its normal value between October 2019 and April 2020 surprised astronomers.
Researchers now say this was caused by gigantic cool areas similar to the sunspots seen on our own parent star.
There had been speculation that Betelgeuse was about to go supernova.
But the star instead began to recover and by May 2020 it was back at its original brightness.
... more @ link above