Post by Atticus Pizzaballa on Nov 21, 2024 13:05:34 GMT -5
Historic First: Stunning Close-Up of a Dying Star Beyond the Milky Way
This image shows an artist’s reconstruction of the star WOH G64, the first star outside our galaxy to be imaged in close-up. It is located at a staggering distance of over 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This artistic impression showcases its main features: an egg-shaped cocoon of dust surrounding the star and a ring or torus of dust. The existence and shape of the latter require more observations to be confirmed. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
Astronomers captured an unprecedented image of WOH G64, a red supergiant star in its final life stages, using advanced technology from the ESO’s VLTI.
This observation marks the first detailed look at a dying star outside our galaxy and offers insights into its structural changes and dimming, potentially due to material loss or another star’s influence.
Breakthrough in Stellar Observation
“For the first time, we have succeeded in taking a zoomed-in image of a dying star in a galaxy outside our own Milky Way,” says Keiichi Ohnaka, an astrophysicist from Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile. The star, WOH G64, lies an astonishing 160,000 light-years away and was imaged using the exceptional precision of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO’s VLTI). These observations reveal the star in its final stages, ejecting gas and dust as it approaches its transformation into a supernova.
“We discovered an egg-shaped cocoon closely surrounding the star,” Ohnaka explains. He is the lead author of a study on the findings, published today (November 21) in Astronomy & Astrophysics. “We are excited because this may be related to the drastic ejection of material from the dying star before a supernova explosion.”
Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, at a staggering distance of over 160,000 light-years from us, WOH G64 is a dying star roughly 2000 times the size of the Sun. This image of the star (left) is the first close-up picture of a star outside our galaxy. The image on the right shows an artist’s impression reconstructing the geometry of the structures around the star, including the bright oval envelope and a fainter dusty torus. Confirming the presence and shape of this torus will require additional observations. Credit: ESO/K. Ohnaka et al., L. Calçada
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