{"id":246699,"date":"2026-11-06T02:23:53","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T08:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/11\/a-hidden-star-may-be-plowing-through-betelgeuses-giant-atmosphere"},"modified":"2026-11-06T02:23:53","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T08:23:53","slug":"a-hidden-star-may-be-plowing-through-betelgeuses-giant-atmosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/11\/a-hidden-star-may-be-plowing-through-betelgeuses-giant-atmosphere","title":{"rendered":"A Hidden Star May Be Plowing Through Betelgeuse\u2019s Giant Atmosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Radio images suggest a link between Betelgeuse\u2019s changing outline and its companion\u2019s expected orbit, offering clues to how a smaller star may influence a giant\u2019s later life.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Betelgeuse, the bright red supergiant marking Orion\u2019s shoulder, may have another star stirring its atmosphere from within. Its recently identified companion, Siwarha, is thought to orbit at a distance of only about twice the giant\u2019s radius. New radio observations suggest that this close neighbor is leaving a visible mark on the shape of Betelgeuse\u2019s outer gas, even though the companion itself is too faint to appear in those observations.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers proposed Siwarha\u2019s existence in 2024 to explain Betelgeuse\u2019s mysterious 2,100-day brightness cycle. Direct imaging and spectroscopic studies of the star\u2019s light have since supported its existence. The companion\u2019s name means \u201cher bracelet,\u201d a reference to Betelgeuse\u2019s Arabic meaning, \u201cthe hand of al-Jawza.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Radio images suggest a link between Betelgeuse\u2019s changing outline and its companion\u2019s expected orbit, offering clues to how a smaller star may influence a giant\u2019s later life. Betelgeuse, the bright red supergiant marking Orion\u2019s shoulder, may have another star stirring its atmosphere from within. Its recently identified companion, Siwarha, is thought to orbit at a [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}