Overview

• Observers identified a blue-white A/B-type pre-main-sequence companion with an estimated mass of 1.5 solar masses and a brightness six magnitudes below Betelgeuse.
• The star orbits at approximately four astronomical units—about 52 milliarcseconds from Betelgeuse—placing it within the red supergiant’s outer atmosphere.
• Speckle imaging with the Alopeke instrument on the Gemini North telescope used millisecond exposures to freeze atmospheric turbulence, delivering the high angular resolution required for the discovery.
• The peer-reviewed results published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on July 21, 2025, confirm long-standing predictions linking a close companion to Betelgeuse’s six-year brightness variations.
• Models predict that friction from Betelgeuse’s extended atmosphere will drag the companion inward, leading to its consumption within about 10,000 years.