Star-Crossed Friends

Is Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse… DYING?!

This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.

Scientists are keeping a close telescope on the tenth brightest star, Betelgeuse. Jared Goldberg and team from Flatiron Institute saw it dim and brighten. This pulsing light usually signals a star’s DEATH! BUT a closer look revealed two pulses, one flashing annually and the other every six years. What the…?

Combining computer models and observations, they concluded Betelgeuse has a friend! Betelbuddy! Goldberg believes Betelbuddy is another star circling Betelgeuse, hiding in its bright light!

Betelbuddy, measuring about twice the size of our sun, could explain the second pulse. If so, Betelgeuse will hopefully be around much longer! But we’ll just have to keep WATCHING.

But as for that Beetlejuice movie sequel… wasn’t once enough?


Reference: Goldberg, J. et al. A Buddy for Betelgeuse: Binarity as the Origin of the Long Secondary Period in α Orionis. arXiv:2408.09089 (2024). https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2408.09089