Since August 2026 Betelgeuse, the red shoulder of Orion, has faded from about magnitude 0.5 to 0.95, its strongest decline in more than six years. Spectra from the STELLA telescope show its inner atmosphere falling inwards faster, part of the star’s natural pulsation; there is no sign yet of a dust-making gas ejection like in 2019–2020, and models put the supernova more than 100,000 years away. Our take: compare it with Aldebaran before dawn, it now looks about as bright.
Betelgeuse, the orange-red shoulder of Orion, is losing brightness again. Since August 2026 it has faded from about magnitude 0.5 to about 0.95, so it now shines roughly a third less than usual. It is the star’s strongest decline in more than six years, since the famous Great Dimming of 2019–2020.
A team led by Daniel Jadlovský of Masaryk University in Brno reported the drop in The Astronomer’s Telegram. Using spectra from the robotic STELLA telescope on Tenerife, they found that the star’s inner atmospheric layers have been falling inwards faster since August. By 20 September the speed difference between the layers had reached 5.5 km/s; during the Great Dimming it was about 7 km/s.
Is it about to explode?
Almost certainly not. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant that will one day end as a supernova, but models (Joyce et al. 2020) place it early in its helium-burning phase, more than 100,000 years before that moment. The researchers see no sign yet of a new gas ejection like the one behind the 2019–2020 event, although the star could reach a new minimum as early as November.
Betelgeuse pulsates by nature: its brightness rises and falls with periods of about 400 and 185 days, on top of a longer cycle of about 2,100 days (5.8 years). Dips like this one are part of its restless life.
StarBetelgeuse (α Orionis)
Brightness now≈ 0.95 mag (normal ≈ 0.5)
Fading sinceAugust 2026
Great Dimming≈ 1.6 mag, February 2020
Distance≈ 550 light-years
Size≈ 750 × the Sun
How big Betelgeuse is, and how it dims
Original Astrometrik animation. Left: Betelgeuse to scale over the orbits of the planets; put in the Sun’s place, it would swallow Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, but not Jupiter. The small star is the companion Siwarha on a schematic orbit. Right: simplified brightness curve after AAVSO data (higher means brighter); the star on the left fades along with the curve.
The Great Dimming of 2019–2020
In late 2019 Betelgeuse faded dramatically. By February 2020 it had dropped to about magnitude 1.6, losing roughly two-thirds of its light and changing the familiar look of Orion. Images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope showed that the southern part of the star had darkened. The explanation, published in Nature in June 2021 (Montargès et al.): the star blew out a large bubble of gas, a cool patch formed on its surface, and the gas cooled into a veil of dust that blocked part of the starlight.
A giant with a hidden companion
If Betelgeuse stood where the Sun is, its surface would reach beyond the orbit of Mars. It has about 16.5 to 19 times the Sun’s mass and lies about 550 light-years away (Joyce et al. 2020). In July 2025 a team led by Steve Howell of NASA Ames announced the first image of a faint companion, taken with the Gemini North telescope. Named Siwarha (“her bracelet”), it has about 1.5 times the Sun’s mass, is about 6 magnitudes fainter and needs about six years for one orbit, which explains the star’s 2,100-day cycle. It should next be at its widest separation in November 2027.
And if it does explode one day?
A Betelgeuse supernova could shine about as brightly as the Moon for weeks and would be visible even in daylight, then fade over months. It would be harmless for Earth: Betelgeuse is far beyond the distance at which a supernova could damage our ozone layer.
Watch: Betelgeuse in under a minute
Our short animated video explains why Betelgeuse is fading again.
Compare: how bright is Betelgeuse?
Slide the brightness of Betelgeuse and compare it with its neighbours Rigel, Aldebaran and Bellatrix. A smaller magnitude means a brighter star.
Rigel0.13
Betelgeuse
Aldebaran0.86
Bellatrix1.64
See it for yourself
In mid-October Betelgeuse rises in the east at about 22:30–23:00 and stands highest in the south before dawn. Compare it with orange Aldebaran in Taurus and blue-white Rigel at Orion’s foot: right now it looks about as bright as Aldebaran. Our sky map shows where to look from your location.
Its inner atmosphere has been falling inwards faster since August 2026, part of the star’s natural pulsation. Researchers see no sign yet of a new dust-forming gas ejection like in 2019–2020.
Is Betelgeuse going to explode soon?
Very unlikely. Models put it more than 100,000 years before its supernova; dimming episodes are normal for red supergiants.
How dim is Betelgeuse now?
About magnitude 0.95 in September and October 2026, compared with about 0.5 normally and about 1.6 at the low point of the Great Dimming in February 2020.
When can I see Betelgeuse?
In October it rises at about 22:30–23:00 local time and is best seen in the hours before dawn; from December it is visible in the evening sky.
Sources and calculation
Sources: Spektrum der Wissenschaft, 15 October 2026 (Simon Misof), on the report by Jadlovský et al. in The Astronomer’s Telegram based on STELLA spectra; AAVSO light-curve data; Joyce et al. 2020, The Astrophysical Journal (Kavli IPMU press release); Montargès et al. 2021, Nature; NASA and NOIRLab/Gemini on the companion Siwarha (July 2025). Rise times calculated with Astronomy Engine for Istanbul and Vienna.
Positions and times were recalculated with Astronomy Engine, the sky-calculation library Astrometrik uses; times for Vienna and Istanbul are local time. The artwork on this page was drawn by Astrometrik.