When Betelgeusefinally crack , the star – currently a red-faced supergiant – will probably shine as bright as the Moon in the sky for about two week , and be seeable during the day clip for 6 - 12 months after that .

It will be a spectacular event , but calculating when it will encounter is a tricky byplay . Every now and then in recent observations , Betelgeuse has maturate dimmer or brightened , prompting speculation that the mavin may end upgoing supernovain a very shortsighted amount of meter , assess in human lifespans or 10 rather than astronomical timetables .

It ’s still indecipherable when the principal will undergo collapse into a supernova , and muddying the picture somewhat is that stars like Betelgeuse constantly expel dust and gas , which can obscure our watching and make itappearas though the whizz is dimming or produce bright . To make it even more complicated , a new preprint newspaper suggests that the lead may have a " buddy " , which could mean that the star is a lot further from going supernova than we retrieve .

The squad , propel by cogitation that put Betelgeuse ’s 2019/2020 dimming down todust cloud , front at patterns in the star ’s light - curve – or the amount of light that reaches our view point in time over prison term . Red behemoth like Betelgeuse have been plant to have " recollective lowly periods " , or variations in brightness over long time periods . Long lowly periods have been put down to several causes , with the most favored hypothesis being that they are cause by companion stars . establish on observations of Betelgeuse , the squad proposes that it may actually be a binary system , excuse the " cracking dimming " event of 2019/2020 .

" We predict the existence of α Ori B , a low - slew companion orbiting Betelgeuse . This is actuate by the presence of a 2,170 - day Long Secondary Period ( LSP ) in Betelgeuse ’s lightcurve , a cyclicity ≈ 5 times long than the star ’s 416 twenty-four hour period fundamental radial pulsation mode , " the team explain in the paper , which has not yet been match reviewed .   " While binarity is presently the moderate speculation for LSPs in general , the LSP and the stellate velocity variation observed in Betelgeuse , take together , need a rescript of the run physical picture . "

accord to the squad , the most plausible explanation for the varying light realize from Betelgeuse is that α Ori B , as they have dubbed it , " impacts the dust in its neck of the woods , corresponding to a brightness increase when the associate is in view " . The team set about to put constraints on the orbit and great deal of such a fellow , if it exists , take over it to be blue - mass so that it would not wring Betelgeuse significantly as they orbit one another .

If right , it would intend that the star is less likely to gosupernovaany time before long , with the dimming and brightening being explained by Betelgeuse ’s " chum " as they also term it in the paper . For now , more observation of Betelgeuse , and further analysis , will be needed to assess whether Betelgeuse is come on supernova , or plainly orb with a friend .

The subject has been submitted to the American Astronomical Society journals and is posted to preprint serverarXiv .