Astronomers Capture The First Close-Up Photograph Of A Star Outside The Milky Way

Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory captured the first photograph of a star outside the Milky Way, and it’s on the brink of a supernova.

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The star, WOH G64, is a red supergiant that is 2,000 times larger than our sun. It lives in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy about 160,000 light-years from Earth, and It’s currently in the last stages of its life.

“We discovered an egg-shaped cocoon closely surrounding the star,” said astrophysicist Keiichi Ohnaka from Universidad Andrés Bello, who co-authored a study on the star, said in a statement. “We are excited because this may be related to the drastic ejection of material from the dying star before a supernova explosion.”

Astronomers have been studying the star for “decades” because it gives the “rare opportunity to witness a star’s life in real-time.”

It’s unlikely that anyone alive today will witness the actual death of WOH G64. As red supergiants enter the final stages of existence, they shed their outer layers of dust and gas. The process can take thousands of years. However, if the circumstances align, astronomers may see the supernova.

“This star is one of the most extreme of its kind,” Jacco van Loon, who co-authored a study on the star at Keele University. “And any drastic change may bring it closer to an explosive end.”

You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.