Overview
- The team's paper published July 28, 2026 presents the most definitive processed VLT/SPHERE coronagraph images yet showing a faint point of light next to Betelgeuse that the authors identify as a likely companion.
- Observers used the SPHERE instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile with exoplanet-style post-processing to separate the companion’s weak signal from Betelgeuse’s glare.
- Under the assumption that the two stars formed together, the team estimates the companion’s mass at about 2.6 to 3.1 times the Sun, a value that could change if that coeval assumption is wrong.
- Researchers call the detection very likely but plan one critical follow-up observation in late 2027 to see the object on the opposite side of Betelgeuse and confirm orbital motion.
- If confirmed, the companion—named Siwarha—would resolve a century of hints about Betelgeuse’s binarity and offer a new way to study how a nearby star might affect mass loss and the late evolution of a red supergiant.