A New Vla–hipparcos Distance to Betelgeuse and Its Implications

The distance to the M supergiant Betelgeuse is poorly known, with the Hipparcos parallax having a significant uncertainty. For detailed numerical studies of M supergiant atmospheres and winds, accurate distances are a prerequisite to obtaining reliable estimates for many stellar parameters. New high spatial resolution, multiwavelength, NRAO3 Very Large Array (VLA) radio positions of Betelgeuse have been obtained and then combined with Hipparcos Catalogue Intermediate Astrometric Data to derive new astrometric solutions. These new solutions indicate a smaller parallax, and hence greater distance (197 ± 45 pc), than that given in the original Hipparcos Catalogue (131 ± 30 pc) and in the revised Hipparcos reduction. They also confirm smaller proper motions in both right ascension and declination, as found by previous radio observations. We examine the consequences of the revised astrometric solution on Betelgeuse’s interaction with its local environment, on its stellar properties, and its kinematics. We find that the most likely star-formation scenario for Betelgeuse is that it is a runaway star from the Ori OB1 association and was originally a member of a high-mass multiple system within Ori OB1a.