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Gemini North Discovers Long-Predicted Stellar Companion of Betelgeuse
Astronomers have discovered a companion star in an incredibly tight orbit around Betelgeuse using the NASA and U.S. National Science Foundation-funded ‘Alopeke instrument on Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the NSF and operated by NSF NOIRLab. This discovery answers the longstanding mystery of the star’s varying brightness and provides insight into the physical mechanisms behind other variable red supergiants.
This research is presented in a paper titled “Probable Direct Imaging Discovery of the Stellar Companion to Betelgeuse” uploaded to the preprint server arXiv and scheduled to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on 24 July. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence of I’oligam Du’ag to the Tohono O’odham Nation, and Maunakea to the Kanaka Maoli(Native Hawaiians) community. Managed by NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP), NN-EXPLORE supports and enhances the scientific return of space missions such as Kepler, TESS, HST, and JWST by enabling essential follow-up observations from the ground—creating strong synergies between space-based discoveries and ground-based characterization.
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