Betelgeuse’s Newfound Sidekick Is Weirder Than We Thought

A couple months back, astronomers officially confirmed the existence of “Betelbuddy,” Betelgeuse’s long-suspected companion star. Since then, researchers have been toiling away at characterizing Betelbuddy—finding that with each observation, the star drifts further away from initial expectations.

A recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal presents a thorough analysis of Betelbuddy using data gathered by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. In the…