VLT finds evidence for companion star orbiting Betelgeuse

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A team using the Very Large Telescope's SPHERE instrument in Chile produced the clearest direct image yet that suggests Betelgeuse has a faint stellar companion, now called Betelgeuse B. The observations indicate this companion is more massive than earlier estimates, about two to three times the mass of the sun, and follow recent 2024 papers predicting its position. The detection relied on SPHERE's coronagraph and exoplanet post-processing techniques and was published July 28 in Astronomy & Astrophysics; the team says a follow-up observation in about a year is needed to confirm the companion and evaluate any effect on the red supergiant's evolution.

Betelgeuse likely has a companion of two to three solar masses.