Tech Desk 
Nov 23, 2024
Astronomers are preparing to reveal a groundbreaking close-up image of a dying star located outside the Milky Way—a first in the history of space exploration. The star, WOH G64, is a super red giant roughly 2,000 times larger than the Sun and situated 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.
This dying star, nicknamed ‘Behemoth,’ is in the final phase of its life cycle. It is expected to culminate in a spectacular supernova, the explosive death of a massive star.
“For the first time, we have succeeded in taking a zoomed-in image of a dying star,” said Keiichi Ohnaka, an astrophysicist at Chile’s Andrés Bello National University. The image was captured using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.
Ohnaka explained that his team discovered an “egg-shaped cocoon” closely surrounding the star. “This is an exciting discovery, as it may be connected to the violent ejections that occur before a star becomes a supernova,” he added.
The findings were made possible through years of observation between 2005 and 2007, using the VLT’s interferometer, which combines light from two telescopes to achieve precise imaging. More recently, researchers employed a cutting-edge instrument called GRAVITY, which integrates light from four telescopes for even greater accuracy.
The study revealed that the star’s brightness has dimmed significantly over the past decade. This observation provides crucial insights into the life cycles of massive stars and the processes that lead to their explosive demise.
The discovery underscores the immense potential of advanced astronomical instruments to deepen our understanding of stars beyond our galaxy.
