Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery by capturing the first detailed images of stars beyond the Milky Way. Star, Wo G64located 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way. this huge red supergiant It is about 2,000 times the size of the sun and is undergoing a huge transformation. For the first time, scientists have observed an egg-shaped cocoon of gas and dust surrounding a star, hinting that major changes are afoot.
This cocoon may be the result of the star shedding its outer layers, possibly signaling its impending death and the onset of a supernova explosion. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), astronomers were able to observe this distant giant star in great detail, providing a rare opportunity to understand the life cycle of a star on the verge of final explosion.
Image source: ESO.org
Astrophysicist Dr. Keiichi Ohnaka highlights key discovery of star’s impending supernova potential
Dr. Keiichi Ohnaka, an astrophysicist at Universidad Nacional Andres Bello in Chile, called the discovery exciting, noting that the egg-shaped cocoon surrounding the star may be related to material shed by the star before it may explode as a supernova.
The star, WOH G64, is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way about 160,000 light-years away. The red supergiant star is considered one of the largest stars in the Milky Way, with a diameter about 2,000 times that of the Sun. Despite its size, observing the star in such detail requires extremely high resolution, like observing an astronaut walking on the moon from Earth.
Image source: ESO.org
Significance of WOH G64 transition and its supernova potential explained
Dr. Jacco van Loon, co-author of the study, explained that typical telescopes cannot provide this level of detail. The images show that the star has undergone significant changes over the past decade, shedding its outer layers, leaving behind the cocoon of gas and dust that now surrounds it. The star’s elongated shape may be the result of its rotation, or it may be due to the presence of an unseen companion star that affects its structure. This transition suggests that WOH G64 may be nearing the end of its life and may soon explode as a supernova. Dr. Van Loon compared the energy released by supernovae to the energy of the sun that shines for 10 billion years. While astronomers have observed supernovae in the past, they have never witnessed a star undergo changes that portend its impending death.
Image source: ESO.org
Stars are known to expel their outer layers shortly before they explode as supernovas, a phenomenon that can occur in just a few years or decades. However, it is rare to track these changes in real time. Van Loon noted that while it may still take tens of thousands of years for WOH G64 to reach the supernova stage, that’s considered a relatively short time span for astronomers to consider since stars live millions or even billions of years. .
ALSO READ | James Webb Space Telescope confirms Einstein’s Zigzag phenomenon, providing new insights into cosmology
