It's Official: Betelgeuse Has a Binary 'Twin', And It's Already Doomed

Betelgeuse—a famous red supergiant in Orion—was long thought to be a lone giant. Now, two independent studies suggest it hosts a low-mass companion star, nicknamed Betelbuddy, orbiting every ~6 years. But there's a twist: it's on a collision course with its massive neighbor and expected to be consumed within ~10,000 years.

🔍 In this video, discover:

1. How two separate teams used century-long patterns in brightness and radial motion to infer the hidden companion. ([turn0search7]turn0search0])

2. How Betelbuddy explains Betelgeuse’s mysterious long secondary period (LSP)—a ~2,100-day brightness cycle. ([turn0search11]turn0search4])

3. The compelling model: this smaller star acts like a cosmic snowplow, clearing dust, altering light, and causing brightness dips—the opposite of an eclipse. ([turn0search9]turn0search10])

4. Their fate: tidal forces will drag Betelbuddy inward, leading to a merger in ~10,000 years, potentially changing how Betelgeuse goes supernova. ([turn0search2]turn0search11])

✅ While direct imaging is extremely challenging, the evidence points strongly toward a binary system—Betelgeuse may not go supernova alone.

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#Betelgeuse #BinaryStar #Betelbuddy #Supernova #Astronomy #StellarEvolution #ScienceAlert #SpaceMystery