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Gemini North Directly Images Betelgeuse's Long-Sought Companion Star
MAUNA KEA, HAWAII, JUL 21 – Astronomers resolved Betelgeuse's six-year brightness cycle by detecting a faint companion star orbiting four times the Earth-Sun distance, using high-resolution speckle imaging techniques.
- A team led by NASA Ames scientist Steve Howell published findings today revealing a close companion star orbiting Betelgeuse using Gemini North's Alopeke imager.
- The discovery followed renewed interest triggered by Betelgeuse's 2019-20 Great Dimming, which was explained by a dust cloud but prompted suspicion of a companion star.
- The companion star, which is young and blue-white, lies within Betelgeuse’s extended atmosphere at a distance roughly four times that between the Earth and the Sun, shines six magnitudes dimmer, and completes its orbit unusually close for a binary system.
- Howell noted that this discovery pushed the limits of what Gemini's high-resolution imaging capabilities can achieve, successfully demonstrating its potential and paving the way for similar future observations.
- Astronomers plan further observations in November 2027 when the companion reaches maximum separation, and estimate that tidal forces will cause the companion to spiral into Betelgeuse within 10,000 years.
54 Articles
54 Articles
For a long time he was suspected – that one could actually observe the compagnon, however, was doubted. But now the impossible seems to have succeeded
Betelgeuse's long-suspected companion star is real. See the picture.
Red supergiant star Betelgeuse has a new excuse for its bad behavior: an accomplice.The star, pronounced "Beetlejuice" (just like the Michael Keaton character), sits like a little devil on the shoulder of the Orion constellation about 700 light-years away in space. It has long-perplexed scientists, with some convinced it was on the brink of a supernova.More recently, astronomers have proposed a theory for its volatile nature, which explains the …
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Astronomers confirm long-standing theory that Betelgeuse has a companion star
Scientists have long wondered if Betelgeuse, one of the brightest and most enigmatic stars in the sky, is not alone. Astronomers have finally confirmed that it does indeed have a companion star. A paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters presents new observations from the Gemini North Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaiʻi. Gemini North’s images are the first to show Betelgeuse with its companion. Astronomers have discovered a companion s…
Betelgeuse, a colossal mandarin red star, is heading fast for annihilation. The star body is pronounced "Beetlejuice", as the type of the hereafter whose name should not be pronounced three times. And at some point near, in galactic terms, it is expected to explode like a supernova, burning the night sky. Despite its self-destructive tendencies, the irritable giant has managed to make and retain a friend. On Monday, a team of astronomers announc…
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