“I jumped from my chair” – Astronomers spot Betelgeuse’s hidden companion
Astronomers have captured clear evidence of a stellar companion orbiting the red supergiant star Betelgeuse. This discovery, made using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, potentially explains long-standing mysteries regarding the star's brightness fluctuations.
Why it matters
Confirming the existence of a companion star resolves a century-old astronomical quest and improves our understanding of the life cycles of massive stars.
Astronomers now have their strongest evidence yet that Betelgeuse, one of the best-known stars in the night sky, has a stellar companion. A team led by French astronomer Miguel Montarg s used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) to capture the clearest image so far of what is believed to be Betelgeuse B, a star orbiting the famous red supergiant.
"This is the conclusion of a century-long quest," says Montarg s.
"We have shown that Betelgeuse is not single, it is accompanied by a faint stellar companion," says Montarg s, astronomer at the Observatoire de Paris -- PSL, France, and lead author of the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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