Scientists from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have successfully captured the first close-up image of a star outside the Milky Way. This historic image shows WOH G64, a red supergiant star located in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, 160,000 light-years away from Earth.
The bright oval shape in the image is believed to be a dusty cocoon surrounding the star. According to scientists, this indicates that the star is in the final stages of its life and has shed a large amount of material before a supernova explosion.
The extraordinary image was obtained using the GRAVITY device on the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in the Atacama Desert, Chile. This device combines the light from four telescopes to provide unique resolution.
"We are watching the star's last breaths," said Keiichi Ohnaka, the lead author of the study from Andrés Bello National University in Chile. "We discovered an egg-shaped cocoon surrounding the star, which could be related to the intense shedding of material before the star's supernova explosion."
The team compared the new image with previous observations and found a noticeable decrease in the star's brightness over the past 10 years.
Gerd Weigelt from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany stated, "A big change is happening in this star. This offers a rare opportunity to observe a star's life cycle in real time."
WOH G64 is a red supergiant star approximately 2,000 times the size of the Sun and is known as a "Super Giant Star." Scientists believe that the dusty cocoon and ring-like structure surrounding the star may be the material it has shed during its final moments.
Jacco van Loon from Keele University said, "This is one of the extreme examples of this type of star. Any sudden change could bring it one step closer to exploding."
Researchers consider the elongated cocoon seen in the image as a surprise and suggest that it may have been formed by the influence of an as-yet undiscovered companion star. They also speculate that the dimmer elliptical ring could be the inner edge of a dusty torus. However, further observations are needed to confirm this theory.
These important findings were published in the November 21, 2024, issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Conclusion: Astronomers have captured the first close-up image of a star outside the Milky Way. WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud is believed to be in the stages just before a supernova explosion.
