More thrilling news
From Betelgeuse.
The decades-long debate can end,
Astronomers have seen its friend.
And thus confirm their explanation
Of the cyclical pulsation
In its luminosity.
The ca-mer-a Alopeke
Enabled scientists to see
A star, Type A, young, bluish-white,
About a million times less bright
And merely 8.5 AU's
Away from mighty Betelgeuse.
Though only 1/18th the mass,
It sculpts a wake within the gas
Around the star. Dust in that tail
Condenses and it forms a veil
Of clouds that measurably reduce
The light that shines from Betelgeuse.
Moreover stellar experts think
The orbit's radius will shrink
As energy's lost to the tide.
Eventually they will collide.
When friend and Betelgeuse combine
A supernova's going to shine
As brightly as a quarter moon.
This all may happen rather soon
In just ten thousand years or so
For humans, many eons, though
In cosmic terms, the merest blink.
It fades and we'll forever lose
The lurid glow of Betelgeuse.
This is part of the collection Verses for the Information Age by Ernest Davis