The star Betelgeuse, located in the Orion constellation, has a companion orbiting close to it. And while the discovery is fascinating, its fate seems to be a sad one.
Many stars can be seen in the sky all year round, but one that never ceases to fascinate astronomers is Betelgeuse, located in the constellation of Orion. And while in recent years, this star 700 times larger than the Sun has been in danger of exploding, a fascinating discovery has just been made about it.
Between 2019 and 2020, this star showed signs of weakness when scientists observed a sharp drop in its luminosity. But in the end, all this was due to a cloud of dust it had ejected. Following this event, researchers wanted to know what could be the cause of the star’s recurring luminosity variations.
Numerous observations were made, ranging from 400 days to several years. And it was only recently that scientists finally discovered who was responsible for this feature. Thanks to an instrument called Alopeke, mounted on the mirror of the Gemini North International Observatory atop Mount Mauna Kea in Hawaii, astronomers were able to observe a small star next to the red supergiant Betelgeuse.
Using a method involving very short exposure times to freeze the distortions caused by the Earth’s atmosphere, the researchers have published their results in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters. As a result, it is six magnitudes fainter than its companion, and its mass is equivalent to 1.5 times that of the Sun.
But that’s not all, as this is a very young, hot blue-white star in which hydrogen combustion has not yet begun. As far as its orbit is concerned, it is very close to Betelgeuse, as it is only four times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, which is very little between two stars of this size.
As a result, while this discovery is exceptional and helps us to understand the variations in Betelgeuse’s luminosity, the star’s fate seems tragic. The tidal forces exerted by the red supergiant will cause it to spiral in on itself over the