>>11399944What we know:
It has too much nitrogen in its atmosphere. This means it almost certainly had a companion star that it ate. It's possible that its companion is trapped within the photosphere of Betelgeuse and may one day break free as Betelgeuse loses mass. We suspect this has happened to other star systems. Or it's companion was torn apart and consumed. Either way however it's pretty certain that our estimates of the age of Betelgeuse are off because of the extra mass of this companion star meaning it almost certainly has over a million years left before it explodes.
It's dimming is probably related to outgassing as gas and dust released by Betelgeuse can obscure the star. This is likely what's causing recent dimming. Regardless, as a red supergiant it's certainly a variable star and has brightened and dimmed in the past. Even if current dimming is found to be unrelated to outgassing it's not unheard of for large stars like it to vary and is part of the natural process of aging stars. We're not certain yet but it can be considered pretty normal either way.
