Skip to main content

NASA Hubble Helps Detect 'Wake' of Betelgeuse’s Elusive Companion Star

View Filtered Press Releases View All Press Releases
January 05, 2026 4:15PM (EST)Release ID: 2026-002
An illustration of the red supergiant star Betelgeuse, its companion star, and a dusty wake. The disk of a red-orange star is in the center. It is surrounded by a diffuse orange cloud representing its extended atmosphere. Below it about one stellar diameter away is a yellow dot representing a smaller companion star. From the companion, a dark red cloud wraps around in a counterclockwise direction. It begins very narrow and expands as it gets further from the companion. The words “artist’s concept” are at lower right.

Summary

After nearly a decade of tracking the giant star’s hidden companion, scientists have confirmed its existence and the influence it exerts.

Scientists have long puzzled over the mysterious red supergiant star Betelgeuse’s changes in brightness and surface features. The mystery intensified after the enormous star became unexpectedly faint in 2020. Now, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes, astrophysicists have for the first time found firm evidence that a companion is disrupting the atmosphere of Betelgeuse. Like a boat moving through water, the companion star creates a ripple effect in Betelgeuse’s atmosphere. Astronomers now see direct signs of this wake, confirming that Betelgeuse really does have a hidden companion shaping its appearance and behavior.

Full Article

Using new observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories, astronomers tracked the influence of a recently discovered companion star, Siwarha, on the gas around Betelgeuse. The research, from scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), reveals a trail of dense gas swirling through Betelgeuse’s vast, extended atmosphere, shedding light on why the giant star’s brightness and atmosphere have changed in strange and unusual ways. The results of the new study were presented Monday at a news conference at the 247th meeting ...

Read More on NASA.gov

Callout: Full Press Release

Visit NASA Science to view the full news release including article text and associated Hubble imagery, graphics, scientific visualizations, videos, captions, text descriptions, and other information.

News releases highlighting the discoveries of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope are produced for NASA by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, under NASA Contract NAS5-26555. News release content is developed by the News Team in STScI’s Office of Public Outreach.

End callout
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google

Contact our News Team 

Contact our Outreach Office