Star outside the Milky Way seen about to blow in closeup image

In this 1-minute video, EarthSky’s Will Triggs tells you about the new groundbreaking stellar closeup.

• Astronomers have captured the first closeup image of a star outside the Milky Way. The star, WOH G64, is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
• It is a red supergiant 1,500 times the size of our sun. It has been undergoing significant changes.
• It will eventually explode as a supernova, as the image suggests it’s nearing its final stages.

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First closeup image of a star outside the Milky Way

On November 21, 2024, astronomers at the European Southern Observatory said they’ve captured a closeup image of a star in another galaxy for the first time. They’ve caught star images outside our Milky Way galaxy before, but not with this clarity! The star is called WOH G64. Yep, that’s … Whoa! Gee. 64. It lies more than 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. Astronomers believe the large oval shape they’re seeing in the image above is the star’s dusty cocoon. They said they believe they’re seeing the last stages of this star’s life before it explodes as a supernova.

The astronomers published their findings in the peer-reviewed journal Astronomy and Astrophysics on November 21, 2024.

Lead author Keiichi Ohnaka of the Andrés Bello National University in Chile said:

We discovered an egg-shaped cocoon closely surrounding the star. We are excited because this may be related to the drastic ejection of material from the dying star before a supernova explosion.

WOH G64 is huge!

As a matter of fact, astronomers have known about this star for decades and nicknamed it the behemoth star. That’s because it’s a red supergiant over 1,500 times the size of our sun.

To get this image, the team used the GRAVITY instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer in Chile’s Atacama Desert. This second-generation instrument combines the light of four telescopes and makes the resolution of the star possible.

By comparing the new closeup image of the star to previous observations, astronomers could see that the star has dimmed. Co-author Gerd Weigelt of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany said:

We have found that the star has been experiencing a significant change in the last 10 years, providing us with a rare opportunity to witness a star’s life in real time.

The star is likely making its last exhalations, expelling the dusty ring and cocoon we see in the image. Co-author Jacco van Loon of Keele University in the U.K. said:

This star is one of the most extreme of its kind, and any drastic change may bring it closer to an explosive end.

Now they need more observations

Of course, the team will make more observations to better understand what is happening with the star. They found the stretched-out cocoon shape surprising, and said it:

… could be explained by either the star’s shedding or by the influence of a yet-undiscovered companion star.

Additionally, the fainter elliptical ring could be the inner rim of a dusty torus (donut shape), but more observations are needed to confirm that theory.

Bottom line: Astronomers have taken the first closeup image of a star in a galaxy outside of our own Milky Way. And this star – WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud – appears to be getting ready to go supernova.

Source: Imaging the innermost circumstellar environment of the red supergiant WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Via ESO