A Betelheze star He starred in the role of legends for millennia. His great brightness attracted the attention of the curious, he inspired the directors and, above all, confused scientists. Despite the fact that he is one of the brightest stars in the sky, from time to time suffers from a series of periodic changes, the origin of which was always a mystery. Between 2019 and 2020, he suffered such an attenuation that it was believed that he became supernova and was He is going to operateThe field after a high expectation from the scientific consequences that could have, it was found that it was only for a cloud of dust. However, now we finally know that there is something, which motivates frequent changes in the brightness of Beteteis: Companion -star.
In fact, this is not a recent suspicion. For a long time it was believed that its periodic changes in shine could be due to the fact that this was part Binar systemThe field, that is, two stars that remain together. However, images and measurements that were taken from Cosmic Telescope Hubble and Observatory X -Ray They were not enough to confirm this. This did not mean that Betheteuse did not have a company -companion, but instead of using tools, such a thing cannot be demonstrated.
If there was really the second star, more accurate methods would be necessary to prove it. Therefore, a new team of scientists led by Steve HowellFrom the NASA research center, Aims turned to two powerful tools located in International Observatory of GeminiThis time the fields were found, so Betelger’s Missal Secret was decided once and for all.
What did we still know about Betelgeuse?
Betelgeuse is a huge star, with an equivalent radius of 600 and 1000 times more than that of the sun, and a mass of 14-19 times more than that of the King star. This is a huge size for a relatively young star, About 10 million years. This implies that it developed quite quickly to become Red supergigent. The star of his closest to the ground.
But, the eye, that this is a red super gigant closer to the ground does not mean that it is very close. This For more than 600 light yearsSo the light that comes to us now emanated before Christopher Columbus arrived in America.
He attracted attention for millennia, as out of her great brightness, which makes him one of the brightest stars of the sky, as well as its variability. It is assumed that its brightness has the main period of the variability of some 400 days And another secondary, from 6 yearsThe latter field is the one that has been suspected in recent years that the accompanying star may affect. Now we know that this was true.
How did you find a star -companyon?
It is usually difficult to detect systems of binary stars, because one of them, as a rule, is much larger and brighter than the other, so they hide their presence from those who observe them from the Earth. Or even from space. The Khabbla space telescope could not find a Betheze partner.
Most of the binary stars systems were discovered thanks to a technique known as the image of Speckle, which consists of Make a lot of images with a very short exposition time. Thus, it is possible to eliminate the distortions that atmospheric turbulence produces in the images, and it is easier to distinguish two points of light from each other.
The northern half of the Observatory of the twins located on Hawaii contains a tool called Alopek (Fox in Hawaiian), the mission of which is the analysis of the spectle. Hauwell’s team decided that it was, along with a great ability to light collection 8.1 meters of Gemini to the northThis can be the key to finding a possible Betleuse satellite.
And so it was …
They discovered what was The second younger and younger star. This is a hot and young star, with a mass equivalent only 1.5 times more than that of our Sun. As for the distance between them, this is about 4 times between the earth and the sun.
According to those who are responsible for the conclusion in their statement, this discovery gives a more clear way of life and the future death of this red supergent. “It is likely that Betheteus and his companion were born at the same time. However, the company -companion will have a shorter life of useful use, since strong tidal forces will make him become a spiral in Betheza and find his disappearance. ” This, according to the calculations of scientists, will be approximately within 10,000 years.
Detection also helps to explain why such supergigent stars can undergo periodic changes in their brightness in a scale for many years. Betelgeuse may not be the only one. To detect their riddles, they need thousands of years. Despite luck, when another similar case is discovered, the resolution will be much faster.
Source: Hiper Textual
