I tried searching on the internet and could not find anything, so does anyone know if there's a website which tracks and shows Betelgeuse's magnitude daily? I just went out today and saw that it's now about the same brightness as Bellatrix.
-
$\begingroup$ In addition to the answer, you might also find this article interesting as it chimes with your observation: astronomynow.com/2020/02/14/… $\endgroup$ – MartynA Feb 18 at 15:44
-
$\begingroup$ The website from the American Association of Variable Star Observers has info about the magnitude variations of Betelgeuse in its "Star of the Month" article. $\endgroup$ – Maurizio Feb 19 at 20:11
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
The American Association of Variable Star Observers tracks observations of a number of variable stars, including Betelgeuse. There are typically many such observations each day, primarily at visible wavelengths. It's quite easy to generate a light curve in the band(s) and date range of your choice.
I'm also aware of a Twitter bot that tweets light curves from AAVSO data several times a day, including long-term projections, but I assume you'd be more interested in looking at the individual measurements yourself.
-
$\begingroup$ There's quite a bit of variation in the measurements, though, e.g. from 0.423 to 3.3151. Is this expected? $\endgroup$ – Eric Duminil Feb 19 at 12:06
-
2$\begingroup$ @EricDuminil One of those is in the R band and one of those is in the B band, so it's not surprising. Different wavelength filters will give different magnitudes for a particular object. $\endgroup$ – HDE 226868♦ Feb 19 at 14:44
