Andrea Dupree has worked as an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian since 1968. In 1980, she became the first woman and youngest person to serve as the associate director of the Center for Astrophysics. From 1996 to 1998, she served as the president of the American Astronomical Society. She was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020. She received the Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Award in 2019 and 2020.
Abstract : Betelgeuse, because it is large and nearby, offers unique insights into fundamental processes and effects of stellar evolution such as structure, winds, mass loss, and binarity. It has been observed across the electromagnetic spectrum with instruments on the ground and in space - in some cases for over a century. Betelgeuse continues to challenge us after the Great Dimming in 2019-2020, and now presents the possibility of an unseen companion traveling deep within its atmosphere. I will report progress and results of recent speculation, theories, and observations of this red supergiant.
