First nightscape of the New Year for me. I was relatively sober by 3:36am.
I chose this view because there has been some concern over the sudden decrease in brightness of the Orange giant Betelgeuse.
Betelgeuse is a variable star. Sometimes it's as bright as Rigel, sometimes as dim as Bellatrix (gamma Orionis). Over the last 50 years of observing I noted this change in brightness several times. Currently, it appears to me to be half a magnitude brighter than Bellatrix (approx 1.6X brighter). I do not believe it is ready to explode. But I've been wrong before.
Some fun facts about Betelgeuse:
It's the only major star in Orion that is not Blue/White.
Only a small percent of it's radiant energy is transmitted in visible wavelengths. If we could see the entire spectrum, Betelgeuse would be the brightest star in the sky.
Betelgeuse is the largest single object that you can see with the naked eye!
What a cool star!

Canon EOS M100
40mm, f1. 8
15s@ISO2500