About the direct imaging of Betelgeuse B, the companion star of Betelgeuse -
The binary companion was long suspected to be the cause of the ~6 year variation in Betelgeuse's brightness.
Betelgeuse B is ~250x less bright than the parent star; estimated mass is 1x-3x that of the Sun; the angular separation is just 0.000014°. It was predicted to be at max. elongation in its orbit on 2024 December 6, when observations were made, without a coronagraph.
🤩
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2611/
1/n
The binary companion was long suspected to be the cause of the ~6 year variation in Betelgeuse's brightness.
Betelgeuse B is ~250x less bright than the parent star; estimated mass is 1x-3x that of the Sun; the angular separation is just 0.000014°. It was predicted to be at max. elongation in its orbit on 2024 December 6, when observations were made, without a coronagraph.
🤩
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2611/
1/n
1