Astronomers spot hidden companion of red supergiant Betelgeuse suspected by Hungarian team

Astronomers have reached a new milestone in the study of Betelgeuse, the well-known red supergiant in the Orion constellation. An international research team has announced the first direct observation of the long-suspected companion star, whose existence was initially proposed by Hungarian astronomer László Molnár and his colleagues.

The breakthrough came thanks to the North telescope of Hawaii’s Gemini Observatory and may settle a scientific debate that has lasted for decades: one of the universe’s most iconic stars isn’t alone after all.

Hungarian scientists at the forefront of discovery

The theory of Betelgeuse’s elusive companion was put forward last year by László Molnár of the HUN-REN CSFK Konkoly Thege Miklós Astronomical Institute, alongside Meridith Joyce and Jared Goldberg. They noted the star’s unusual luminosity fluctuations, which could best be explained by the presence of a companion roughly the size of the Sun. While they attempted confirmation using the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, those initial efforts fell short of direct detection. However, they were able to rule out that the companion was a neutron star, according to Qubit.

Breakthrough at Gemini North

The major turning point came when the Gemini North telescope on Earth captured the faint companion using a technique called speckle interferometry, producing thousands of short-exposure images that were then combined. Remarkably, it appeared in the position and at the distance predicted by the Hungarian team. While the 1.5-sigma level of statistical significance is not considered a definitive detection, experts are hailing it as a major breakthrough—until now, it was believed Betelgeuse’s brilliance would forever obscure any companion.