Betelgeuse has a hidden "partner," which may explain why it hasn't exploded yet.

One of the most renowned stars among space enthusiasts, Betelgeuse, even became a sort of meme among scientists last year due to its supposed "shyness" about exploding and transforming into a supernova. However, it is quite possible that it harbors another secret that humanity has yet to uncover.

This is discussed in a study by the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute (USA). It is available for review in the preprint archive arXiv.

Betelgeuse has drawn attention due to its unnatural fluctuations in brightness, which have led to numerous theories regarding their nature. One of the most popular hypotheses suggested that the star is in the final stages of its normal life and is "on the verge" of turning into a supernova. Of course, this was referring to the next tens of thousands of years, which is, however, quite short in astronomical terms.

The essence of the new research is that scientists noticed discrepancies in the phase of the star's radial velocity changes (its position relative to Earth) and its luminosity. This led to the idea that something might be affecting the red giant, and the most obvious concept is the presence of a second star nearby.

Betelgeuse's brightness changes every 416 days; however, scientists have identified another variation that occurs approximately every 6 years or 2170 days. This change lasts significantly longer than the primary pulsation cycle, and scientists are now hypothesizing that this timeframe corresponds to the period it takes for the companion star to complete a full orbit.

Now, researchers have proposed that the fluctuations in luminosity could be explained by the presence of a companion star, which has already been named α Ori B (Alpha Orionis B) or informally "Betelbuddy." It is expected to be located at a distance of 1850 stellar radii and to be about 1.17 times larger than our Sun. While this may seem substantial, it is important to understand that Betelgeuse is 400 million times larger than the Sun in volume and 100,000 times brighter.

This could also explain why the star appears to us as flickering—dust may be accumulating in front of it, causing it to dim for us. At the same time, the smaller star might act as a "snowplow," clearing this dust through gravitational influence, making the larger star more visible to observers on Earth.

The authors of the study also considered other possibilities for the observed phenomena—such as outflows of hot gas or magnetic fields. However, they find both alternatives to be less likely.

Regardless, Betelgeuse is an old star, and its transition into a supernova is a matter of the near future (in astronomical terms, of course). However, if this six-year pulsation is not linked to its primary cycle and is indeed explained by the presence of a companion star, it could indicate that it is not as close to death as we once thought. In that case, we might have to wait not tens of thousands of years, but rather hundreds of thousands for its explosion.

By the way, scientists previously suggested that Betelgeuse does not rotate at a crazy speed. However, the phenomena occurring on its surface may create a similar illusion.