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...
In the graphic below, the image in the middle inset was taken in Jan 2019 with the SPHERE instrument at ESO’s VLT, and shows Betelgeuse itself.
The image in the inset on the left was taken in Dec 2024, when the companion was predicted to be furthest apart from Betelgeuse as seen from Earth. In this inset, Betelgeuse has been removed and replaced by a circle, revealing a source (marked with a crosshair) consistent with being Betelgeuse B.
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2611a/
2/n
The image in the inset on the left was taken in Dec 2024, when the companion was predicted to be furthest apart from Betelgeuse as seen from Earth. In this inset, Betelgeuse has been removed and replaced by a circle, revealing a source (marked with a crosshair) consistent with being Betelgeuse B.
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2611a/
2/n
1