Betelgeuse’s long-predicted stellar companion may have been found at last
Monday, July 21, 2025 - 14:41
in Astronomy & Space
The red supergiant Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the sky, may have a small companion star in orbit around it, a team of astronomers announced today . If confirmed, the companion would explain why Betelgeuse waxes and wanes in brightness over 6-year periods and could help explain why similar stars also pulsate, the researchers report in a paper to be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters later this week. The authors say there’s a chance the image is an artifact. It will be a couple years before they can take another look because, if the companion is real, it is moving behind the much larger Betelgeuse. “I think future observations are needed when the...