Imagine a lonely giant, a cosmic behemoth, drifting through space. Now, picture it with a tiny, almost invisible companion. That's the reality of Betelgeuse, the famous red supergiant star, and its newly discovered 'Betelbuddy'! For centuries, stargazers have been mesmerized by Betelgeuse, a prominent fixture in the constellation Orion. Scientists suspected it might have a companion, based on its peculiar dimming patterns, but proving it was another story. Until now! Get ready to meet Betelbuddy, a celestial sidekick unlike any other.
This incredible discovery started with images from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii, which hinted at a faint object near Betelgeuse. Intrigued, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) turned to the heavy hitters: NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. They aimed these powerful instruments at Betelgeuse, hoping to catch a glimpse of its elusive partner. And their timing couldn't have been better! Betelbuddy, the adorable nickname given to this tiny companion, was at its farthest point from Betelgeuse, making it visible for the first time. To put things in perspective, Betelgeuse is a monster, roughly 700 times the size of our Sun and thousands of times brighter! Finally, after years of speculation, scientists had concrete observations.
"It turns out that there had never been a good observation where Betelbuddy wasn't behind Betelgeuse," explains Anna O’Grady, a postdoctoral fellow at CMU. "This represents the deepest X-ray observations of Betelgeuse to date.” Think about that for a moment: all previous attempts to find a companion were thwarted by Betelgeuse's sheer size and brightness. This new, incredibly detailed X-ray data was the key to unlocking the mystery.
But capturing the image was just the beginning. Here's where it gets controversial... The researchers initially expected Betelbuddy to be either a white dwarf (the dense remnant of a star like our Sun) or a neutron star (an even denser object formed from the collapse of a massive star). These types of objects are usually surrounded by a swirling disk of gas and dust called an accretion disk, which emits strong X-rays. But they found no such signature. And this is the part most people miss... Instead, the data suggests that Betelbuddy might be a young stellar object, roughly the same size as our Sun! A baby star hanging out with a supergiant.
This leads to an even bigger discovery, one that challenges our current understanding of binary star systems. Typically, binary stars – systems where two stars orbit each other – have relatively similar masses. Think of it like two figure skaters, roughly the same size, spinning around each other. But Betelgeuse throws a wrench in that analogy. It's estimated to be 16 to 17 times the mass of our Sun, while Betelbuddy is thought to have roughly the same mass as our Sun. That's like a sumo wrestler paired with a toddler!
"This opens up a new regime of extreme mass ratio binaries,” O’Grady emphasizes. "It's an area that hasn’t been explored much because it's so difficult to find them or to even identify them like we were able to do with Betelgeuse." This discovery suggests that such extreme pairings might be more common than we previously thought, but they're incredibly difficult to detect due to the vast difference in brightness and size.
This is just the first chapter in the story of Betelgeuse and Betelbuddy. What secrets will they reveal next? Will Betelbuddy eventually be swallowed by its giant companion? Or will it continue to orbit Betelgeuse for eons to come? One thing is certain: this odd couple is forcing us to rethink what we know about the lives of stars. What do you think? Could Betelbuddy have formed independently and been captured by Betelgeuse's gravity? Or did they somehow form together despite the massive size difference? Share your thoughts in the comments below! The team's research is available in The Astrophysical Journal (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/adff83). Join the conversation and stay updated on the latest space missions and discoveries on the Space Forums (https://forums.space.com/). If you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.
