Astronomers observe companion star orbiting stellar giant Betelgeuse

WASHINGTON, July 29 : Betelgeuse is a superstar among the stars — one of the brightest in the night sky, a massive red supergiant in the constellation Orion that sometimes brightens and dims, and adds to its allure with the fact that it may be on the brink of exploding. It has been observed for millennia, but astronomers have now nailed down a crucial detail about this star: Betelgeuse is not alone. Researchers using the European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope have directly imaged a star that orbits with Betelgeuse — pronounced "beetle juice" — in what is called a binary system.Betelgeuse's mass is about 16.5 to 19 times greater than our sun's, and its physical size is 750 to 850 times larger than the sun. Its newly identified companion is big in its own right, 2.6