Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2025

48 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2025 ASTRO PUBLISHING around 1.5 times that of the Sun, and it appears to be an A- or B-type pre-main-sequence star — a hot, young, blue-white star that has not yet initiated hydrogen burning in its core. The companion is at a rela- tively close distance away from the surface of Betelgeuse — about four times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. This is the first time a close-in stellar companion has been detected orbiting a supergiant star. Even more impressive — the companion orbits well within Betel- geuse’s outer extended atmosphere, proving the incredible resolving abil- ities of ‘Alopeke. “Gemini North’s ability to obtain high angular reso- lutions and sharp contrasts allowed the companion of Betelgeuse to be directly detected,” says Howell. Furthermore, he explains that ‘Alopeke did what no other tele- scope has done before: “Papers that predicted Betelgeuse’s com- panion believed that no one would likely ever be able to image it.” This discovery provides a clearer pic- ture of this red supergiant’s life and future death. Betelgeuse and its companion star were likely born at the same time. However, the com- panion star will have a shortened lifespan as strong tidal forces will P hoto of the constella- tion Orion with anno- tations from IAU and Sky & Telescope. The arrow points to Betelgeuse. [E. Slawik/NOIRLab/NSF/ AURA/M. Zamani] cause it to spiral into Betel- geuse and meet its demise, which scientists estimate will occur within the next 10,000 years. The discovery also helps to explain why similar red su- pergiant stars might un- dergo periodic changes in their brightness on the scale of many years. How- ell shares his hope for fur- ther studies in this area: “This detection was at the very extremes of what can be accomplished with Gemini in terms of high- angular resolution imag- ing, and it worked. This now opens the door for other observational pur- suits of a similar nature.” Martin Still, NSF program director for the Interna- tional Gemini Observatory adds: “The speckle capa- bilities provided by Gem- ini continue to be a spectacular tool, open to all astronomers for a wide range of astronomy applica- tions. Delivering the solution to the Betelgeuse problem that has stood for hundreds of years will stand as an evocative highlight achieve- ment.” Another opportunity to study Betelgeuse’s stellar compan- ion will occur in November 2027 when it returns to its furthest sepa- ration from Betelgeuse, and thus easiest to detect. Howell and his team look forward to observations of Betelgeuse before and during this event to better constrain the nature of the companion. !