NEWS

Giant star to be eclipsed

Giant star to be eclipsed

Betelgeuse, one of the largest and brightest stars in the night sky will momentarily disappear some time on Monday night into Tuesday dawn as an asteroid passes in front of it, causing a phenomenon that scientists on Earth will witness for the first time.

Astronomers estimate the extremely short-lived spectacle could be visible in a narrow path stretching from Tajikistan and Armenia, across Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain, to Miami and the Florida Keys and some areas of Mexico.

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant about 700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion. The asteroid, Leona, is a slowly rotating elongated rock in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

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