The first high-resolution picture of a dying star outside of our galaxy was taken by scientists. The star is WOH G64, which is situated in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy that is adjacent to the Milky Way, 160,000 light-years away.
To view the star beneath an egg-shaped cocoon of gas and dust, scientists used the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile.
A red supergiant, or massive star nearing the end of its cycle, is WOH G64. It is about 2,000 times as large as the Sun, and it will eventually die as a supernova, which is an explosive conclusion to a star’s life cycle.
“This is the first zoomed-in image of a mature star in another galaxy,” said Keiichi Ohnaka, an astrophysicist from Universidad Andréas Bello in Chile and lead author of the study. “It shows us structures wrapping the star as it sheds material in its final stages.”
The Egg-Shaped Cocoon
It showed a glowing, stretched-out cocoon of gas and dust surrounding the star. The surprising shape, instead of the spherical shape expected, may be as a result of uneven ejection of material or the influence of the yet undiscovered companion star. Another faint oval ring of dust surrounding the cocoon was also detected.
“The cocoon’s shape and the material being ejected give us a glimpse into how stars like WOH G64 evolve before they explode,” Ohnaka explained.
Although WOH G64 has been the subject of research for almost two decades, this is the first picture to show its immediate surroundings. The discovery was made possible by new instruments on the VLTI, which allowed scientists to observe the star’s dramatic change.
The paper’s author, astronomer Jacco van Loon of Keele University in England, stated that the star has already lost a significant amount of material.
“WOH G64 has noticeably dimmed over the past decade as gas and dust block its light,” he said.
A Rare Opportunity
Massive stars like WOH G64 have much shorter lifespans than smaller stars such as our Sun. Estimated to have lived for about 10-20 million years, the star will soon die, creating a cosmic explosion that will briefly outshine entire galaxies.
“This is a rare chance to watch a star’s life unfold in real time,” Ohnaka added. “Even in our Milky Way, we haven’t observed a star in such a late stage with this clarity.”
The Large Magellanic Cloud, where WOH G64 resides, offers a unique environment for studying stars. With less dust and fewer metals than the Milky Way, it resembles the conditions of the early universe, providing clues about how stars lived and died billions of years ago.
“This discovery not only helps us understand the lifecycle of massive stars but also offers a glimpse into the conditions of the universe when it was young,” van Loon said.
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