Betelgeuse dimming: the state of the star
International workshop

Betelgeuse, the alpha of Orion, has been classified as the brightest star of the constellation by Ptolemy around 150 AD. It is a semi-regular variable that in the top luminosity phases can be the brightest star of the northern hemisphere, with negative magnitude. Since October 2019, its luminosity is dimming and lost one whole magnitude, attaining the visual magnitude of 1.4, at the level of Regulus, the alpha of Leo. What is going on? This will be the subject of this workshop, organized in the occurrence of such epochal event, with some of the most prominent scientists in the field.

Betelgeuse as in 1702, Clementine Gnomon - Rome

Friday January 17, 2020, h 15:30 – 17:30
ICRANet, Piazza della Repubblica 10, Pescara

Ore 15:30 - Library

Welcoming addresses and Lectio Magistralis

Prof. Remo Ruffini, Direttore ICRANet: Supernovae and Gamma-Ray bursts


Ore 15:45 - Conference room Carlo Pace

Plenary speakers

• Costantino Sigismondi, ICRA/Sapienza: The case of eta Carinae in 1843
• Cesare Barbieri, University of Padova: Astronomy and media
• Margarita Karovska, Harvard CfA: Multiperiodicity in the Light Curve of Alpha Orionis
• Paolo Ochner, Asiago Astrophysical Observatory: Galactic SN classification
• Stella Kafka, AAVSO Director: AAVSO Mission and Database
• Massimo Turatto, INAF/Padova Observatory: Supernova and variability from spectra and lightcurves


Ore 17:00

Esercitazione pratica/training

Prof. Costantino Sigismondi, ICRA/Sapienza


Comitato Organizzatore: Costantino Sigismondi (ICRA/Sapienza e Pontificia Università Regina Apostolorum - chair), Prof. Remo Ruffini (ICRANet), ICRANet Pescara, Tiziana Pompa (Liceo Scientifico Galileo Galilei Pescara).

Nights of January 18,19,20
Observations at Liceo Scientifico G. Galilei of Pescara and ICRANet by Prof. Costantino Sigismondi