New analysis of Betelgeuse's brightness variations and other data points to a small, close companion for this giant star.

Astronomers may have discovered a companion star orbiting around Betelgeuse, one of the brightest and most famous stars in the sky. The gravity of this partner could help explain the way Betelgeuse regularly brightens and dims. What's more, Betelgeuse could consume this companion in as little as 10,000 years.

Betelgeuse is one of the best studied stars, with detailed records stretching back more than a century. Thanks to these observations, astronomers know that Betelgeuse is highly variable. The star pulsates violently, which alters its brightness in a pattern that repeats roughly every 400 days. However, there is a second pattern of brightness variation lasting approximately 2,000 days. This second pattern also appears in measurements of the star's motions toward and away from Earth (its radial velocity), which suggest that Betelgeuse is slowly rocking back and forth. As early as 1908, astronomers were speculating that this was due to an unseen companion star pulling the gravitational strings. Except no-one has ever found evidence of one — until now, perhaps.

A team led by Morgan MacLeod (Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian) has collated and analysed more than a century's worth of data, including measurements of Betelgeuse's radial velocity, brightness (photometry), and position on the sky (astrometry). The researchers conclude that each of these data sets could be explained if Betelgeuse has what they whimsically refer to as "a little friend." Their paper is available on the arXiv preprint server.

To explain the data, the companion would need to be less massive than the Sun and would take 2,110 days to orbit Betelgeuse from a distance equivalent to the giant star's width. (Betelgeuse is about as wide as Jupiter is far from the Sun.) "It was very surprising," says MacLeod. "It's kind of hidden right there in plain sight."

"The dataset that the authors put forward is rather compelling," says Rene Oudmaijer (Royal Observatory of Belgium), who was not involved in the research. "The caveat is of course that the companion itself is not directly detected, so there is still room for doubt."

Using a new method exploiting the capabilities of the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), astronomers have detected 307 new supernova remnants, including seven rare oxygen-rich ones. The finding was presented in a research paper published September 10 on the preprint server arXiv.

Supernova remnants (SNRs) are diffuse, expanding structures resulting from a supernova explosion. They contain ejected material expanding from the explosion and other interstellar material that has been swept up by the passage of the shockwave from the exploded star.

Some supernova remnants showcase strong visible light oxygen emission, and due to that, are known as oxygen-rich SNRs. However, oxygen-rich SNRs are rarely found, as to date, only eight such objects have been identified in our galaxy and in the Magellanic Clouds. Moreover, the nature of these SNRs and their connection to specific supernovae (SNe) is still not well understood.

Now, a team of astronomers led by Timo Kravtsov of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile reports new findings that could advance our knowledge about oxygen-rich supernova remnants. By employing a new method of SNR detection, they managed to discover hundreds of new remnants with MUSE mounted on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), including those exhibiting oxygen-emission.

"We present a new method to detect SNRs exploiting the capabilities of modern visible-light integral-field units based on the shapes of the SNR emission lines," the researchers explained.

If you travel far enough away from the Sun, the Solar System becomes a lot more populated.

Out past the orbit of Neptune lies the Kuiper Belt, a vast, ring-shaped field of icy rocks. This is where Pluto resides, and Arrokoth, and countless other small objects in the cold and the dark.

These are known as Kuiper Belt objects or KBOs, and astronomers have just found hints of an unexpected rise in their density, between 70 and 90 astronomical units from the Sun, separated by a large, practically empty gap between it and an inner population of KBOs closer to the Sun.

It seems, almost, like there are two Kuiper Belts, or at least two components - something nobody was expecting to find.

"If this is confirmed, it would be a major discovery," says planetary scientist Fumi Yoshida of the University of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences and Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan.

"The primordial solar nebula was much larger than previously thought, and this may have implications for studying the planet formation process in our Solar System."

The objects in the Kuiper Belt are thought to represent the most pristine material our Solar System contains.

A flowery passage in a 6,000-year-old Hindu text may be the earliest known reference to a solar eclipse, describing the sun as being "pierced" with darkness and gloom and proposing that evil beings had caused the sun's "magic arts to vanish."
When astronomers combed through an ancient Hindu text known as the Rig Veda, they discovered that it referenced a total solar eclipse that occurred roughly 6,000 years ago — making it the oldest known mention of an eclipse.

The Rig Veda, a collection of sayings and hymns from various religious and philosophical schools, was compiled around 1500 B.C. Like nearly all religious texts, it mentions historical events. Most are contemporary to when it was written, but some stretch back much further. For example, various passages in the Rig Veda mention the location of the rising sun during the vernal equinox. One reference describes the vernal equinox as occurring in Orion, and another has it occurring in the Pleiades.

These descriptions allow astronomers to date those references, because as Earth spins on its axis, it wobbles like a spinning top, changing the relative position of important astronomical events. Currently, the vernal equinox is in the constellation Pisces. It was in Orion around 4500 B.C. and in the Pleiades around 2230 B.C., meaning the Rig Veda recorded some memories of events far earlier than its compilation.

Residents in the Mossel Bay area said they had heard two loud bang noises this morning, as did another resident in Great Brak.

Did you feel it? Did you hear it?

Unconfirmed reports have been doing the rounds of a possible meteorite or satellite that hit close to the Patensie area, causing people to think there might have been an earthquake.

According to Weather Guru, a Facebook page run by Garth Sampson, a former employee of the South African Weather Service, although it's unclear exactly what happened, it was definitely not an earthquake.

Residents in the Mossel Bay area said they had heard two loud bang noises this morning, as did another resident in Great Brak.

Weather Guru said: "My rainfall group in the Langkloof started reporting what sounded like an earthquake. Later reports came through of what seems to look like a meteor or satellite. It apparently hit in the Patensie area."

He said a video had been doing rounds on many groups and was sent to Weather Guru by Tsitsikamaboertjie from Assagaaibosch.

Call these the magnificent seven.

Stargazers in China were taken aback after spotting what appeared to be seven suns as seen in a recent viral video.

In the mind-bending footage, which was shot earlier this month by a woman in a Chengdu hospital, the solar septet graces the sky like the view on some bizarro planet.

The seven suns are lined up next to each other and boast varying intensities.

The videographer, identified as Ms. Wang, said that viewers were transfixed by the trippy vista, which lasted around a minute and was visible from multiple angles, Jam Press reported.

A strong geomagnetic storm was observed Monday bringing the change for some parts of the US to see the Northern Lights.

Even Sunday night, the Northern Lights were seen in parts of Wisconsin and Illinois.

Monday night, parts of the US including Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana could see the aurora borealis in the night sky. And places as far south as Northern Virginia, Southern Illinois, Nebraska, Wyoming and Northern Oregon could see the lights low on the horizon.

So if you're in the Western Carolinas, you'll have to hop in the car and drive at a chance to see them Monday night. the closest places would be West Virginia, Cincinnati, Ohio or far Northern Virginia.

Stunning displays of the Northern lights have been seen right across the UK, coinciding for the second night in a row with the Perseid meteor shower.

Skies as far south as Cornwall were lit up by the auroral display.

The Northern lights - or aurora borealis - has made regular appearances in the UK over the last few months but it takes a particularly strong geomagnetic storm for it to be visible in southern England.

With enhanced solar activity continuing, there will be more chances to see the aurora over the coming months.

Using the Keck II telescope, astronomers have detected an object that may be a brown dwarf or a low-mass star, exhibiting a very high radial velocity. The object, designated CWISE J124909.08+362116.0 is located some 400 light years away. The finding was reported July 11 on the pre-print server arXiv.

Brown dwarfs (BDs) are intermediate objects between planets and stars, occupying the mass range between 13 and 80 Jupiter masses (0.012 and 0.076 solar masses). They form like stars but are not sufficiently massive to sustain hydrogen fusion in their cores.

Now, a team of astronomers led by Adam Burgasser of the University of California San Diego reports the detection of a new object at the brown dwarf/star mass boundary.

Using the Near-Infrared Echellette Spectrometer (NIRES) at the Keck II telescope, they investigated CWISE J124909.08+362116.0 (or CWISE J1249+3621 for short) — a high proper motion faint red source first identified by citizen scientists. As a result, it turned out that the source is a rare type of hypervelocity subdwarf.

"We report the discovery of a high velocity, very low-mass star or brown dwarf whose kinematics suggest it is unbound to the Milky Way. (...) The fastest 'hypervelocity' stars are unbound to the Milky Way's gravitational potential and may even have extragalactic origins," the researchers explained.