For the first time, scientists have managed to capture a detailed photo of a star located outside our Milky Way galaxy. The image, which unveiled surprising details about WOH G64, a giant star likely in its dying stages, was published on November 21 in Astronomy & Astrophysics. The star, approximately 1,500 times the size of our sun, is situated 160,000 light-years away from Earth within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.
Previously, capturing a clear image of WOH G64 seemed nearly impossible due to the need for a telescope larger than 100 meters in diameter. Instead, astronomers utilized data from four 1.8-meter telescopes to compile the image. This effort provides a unique glimpse into the final stages of a star's life.
“This star, WOH G64, offers us a genuine chance to study what a star is doing, presumably, just before a supernova explosion,” explains Keiichi Ohnaka, an astronomer at the Universidad Andrés Bello in Santiago, Chile. “‘Just before’ in an astronomical context. Not today, next week, or next year.” The star could still take between 10,000 to 100,000 years to explode into a supernova, if it does at all. However, the clues suggesting its impending demise are compelling. The star is enveloped by a hazy, egg-shaped cocoon, which Ohnaka hypothesizes could be composed of materials stars emit during their dying phase, such as gas and dust particles.
The primary indication that the star is dying is its significantly diminished appearance in the image compared to older records of its brightness. Ohnaka believes the star has been ejecting increasing amounts of material over the past decade, leading to its dimming. While some stars experience temporary dimming, others never regain their former brightness (SN: 11/29/20).
“Initially, we aimed to take another close-up,” says Ohnaka. “But it didn’t quite work. The star was too faint. So, we began monitoring it to see when it might reappear…. But perhaps more intriguing is the possibility that it might not return. It could just continue to grow fainter and fainter.”
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