Betelgeuse is one of the brightest stars in Earth’s sky.  It’s so bright in fact that we never were able to get an accurate look at the system until we sent a starship to the system.  Once there, we found five companion stars, dozens of planets, and some really big birds already living there.  Birds with spaceships and a civilization spread throughout all six stars.  We thought we’d finally met a true Big A Alien race.  Then we made Contact and learned the truth.