Astronomers went looking for this well-known star in late 2019 only to find that it was missing.

Astronomers studied this object in great detail between 2001 and 2011 because it’s no ordinary star.

It is (or was?) a very rare type of ancient star called a massive luminous blue variable (LBV).

This star was getting on toward the end of its life cycle, which is why it was so interesting in the first place.

Based on this older data, the team speculates that the star may have been experiencing a strong outburst period the last time astronomers glanced in its direction.

That may have ended around 2011, causing the star to become dim enough that we can no longer pick it out from the background that far away.