Reuters Science News Summary

Astronomers have directly imaged a companion star orbiting Betelgeuse, a massive red supergiant in the constellation Orion, confirming it is part of a binary star system.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Astronomers observe companion star orbiting stellar giant Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is a superstar ​among the stars — one of the brightest in the night sky, a ​massive red supergiant in the constellation Orion that sometimes brightens ‌and ​dims, and adds to its allure with the fact that it may be on the brink of exploding. It has been observed for millennia, but astronomers have now nailed down a crucial detail about this star: Betelgeuse is not alone. Researchers using the ‌European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope have directly imaged a star that orbits with Betelgeuse — pronounced "beetle juice" — in what is called a binary system.

SpaceX gets $1.6 billion US Space Force order for 18 Falcon 9 launches

SpaceX won $1.6 billion in orders from the U.S. Space Force on Wednesday to launch 18 Falcon 9 missions through 2027 carrying Pentagon satellites for detecting ‌and targeting airborne objects, the service said. The 18 missions were assigned to SpaceX across two task orders under the U.S. Space Force's flagship launch procurement program, in which ‌SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and other U.S. launch firms inducted into the program jockey for lucrative mission assignments.

Chinese fossil shows internal organs of prehistoric marine reptile

Scientists have discovered a fossil in China of a long-necked marine reptile from 245 million years ago that is so well preserved that it reveals the animal's stomach, liver and intestines, providing an unparalleled look at reptilian internal anatomy before the age of dinosaurs. Researchers said ⁠the fossil of ​the Triassic Period creature Austronaga minuta was unearthed ⁠in Yunnan Province in southern China in a region that has yielded many nicely preserved fossils dating to a time of tremendous evolutionary innovation in the aftermath of Earth's worst mass extinction of species.

Smallpox DNA ⁠is recovered from Spanish conquest-era Chilean mummies

When Spanish conquistadors arrived in the New World some five centuries ago, they brought muskets, cannons, armor, horses and attack dogs as they set about colonizing ​the Americas. But the biggest blow they delivered came from something else entirely — smallpox and other infectious diseases that ravaged indigenous populations. Researchers now have obtained the first direct ⁠molecular evidence of the smallpox unwittingly carried from the Old World to the New World that wiped out untold millions of people in Mesoamerica and South America. They recovered ancient viral DNA from the mummies of ⁠two ​people who died during the early Spanish colonial period in an Inca community in northern Chile.

Climate change made 'fire-prone' weather conditions more likely in Spain and France, scientists say

Human-caused climate change made the extreme weather fuelling wildfires in southwestern France twice as likely, and made the conditions driving blazes in central Spain 20 times more likely, scientists said on ⁠Friday. Ongoing wildfires in Spain and France have forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate and scorched huge swathes of land.

Mammoth remains revealed in Bulgaria after Danube water levels ⁠hit record low

The remains of what ⁠is believed to be an ancient mammoth have been revealed in northern Bulgaria, after Danube River water levels receded to a record low level, the BTA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing historians. The animal's remains were found on Wednesday by a local resident of ‌the Ryahovo village, who noticed ‌the unusual find on the river bed. Villagers then alerted specialists in the Regional History Museum ​in the nearby town of Ruse.