may be due to a much tinier star orbiting the red supergiant, a team of astronomers report.
The research,hostedon the preprint server arXiv, is not yet peer-reviewed.
Betelgeuse isbetween 15 to 20 timesthe mass of the Sun, depending on who you ask.
A 2020 image of Betelgeuse as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.Image: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin.
In recent years, Betelgeuse has started acting funny.
Ergo, no dust-dragging could be responsible.
Each one has been proven wrong.
Betelgeuse (orange dot in top right) in the constellation Orion. Image: Rogelio Bernal Andreo / Wikimedia Commons
The companion itself doesnt impact whether Betelgeuse explodes tomorrow or in the year 102024, Goldberg added.
However,discoveringthe companion helps uspredictbetter when Betelgeuse will explode.
But it will be difficult to ultimately discover such a BetelBuddy.
Thats because Betelgeuse is incredibly, stupidly bright, Molnar said.
A smaller, Sun-sized star can actually be almost undetectable next to it.
Thankfully, almost undetectable leaves wiggle room, more wiggle room than dark matter, which is literally invisible.
Forget saying Betelgeuse three timesthat wont get the star to finally blow its top.
Plus, it doesnt really have as nice a ring to it as Betelgeuse, Betel…buddy!
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The Star Set to Explode Totally Flaked.
