Overview
- The study announcing the detection was published Tuesday and presents the sharpest direct images so far of a faint source next to Betelgeuse that the team identifies as a candidate companion.
- The observations were taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope using the SPHERE-ZIMPOL instrument in December 2024 and emerged after months of careful post-processing to remove the supergiant’s glare.
- The imaged source sits about 52 milliarcseconds from Betelgeuse, a projected distance near 8.8 astronomical units, and mass estimates assuming coeval formation put it at roughly 2.6–3.1 times the Sun’s mass.
- Detection relied on coronagraphic high-contrast imaging and advanced post-processing techniques originally developed for exoplanet searches, which suppressed Betelgeuse’s light to reveal the faint companion.
- The team named the candidate Siwarha and says the next essential step is to observe it on the opposite side of Betelgeuse in about one year to confirm orbital motion and to study how a nearby star could affect Betelgeuse’s late-stage evolution and future supernova behavior.