ESO Telescope Captures Stunning First-Ever Shot Of A Star Outside The Milky Way

Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO’s VLTI) took the first close-up image of a dying star outside of the Milky Way. The newly imaged star, WH G64, is located within the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the smaller galaxies that orbit the Milky Way.

While the James Webb Space Telescope has garnered much of the attention when it comes to new images of deep space, ground-based telescopes such as ESO’s VLT refuse to be put out to pasture. And why should it, when it is still capable of delivering images such as the one of a dying star some 160,000 light years from Earth.

“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,” remarked Keiichi Ohnaka, an astrophysicist from Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile.

Ohnaka added the group also discovered an egg-shaped cocoon that was closely surrounding the star, because it may be related to the “drastic ejection” of material from the dying star before a supernova event.

During previous observations, astronomers appropriately nicknamed WH G64 the “behemoth star," due to it being nearly 2000 times larger than Earth’s Sun, and is classified as a red supergiant. The astronomers noted that while other stars, along with WH G64, outside the Milky Way have been observed numerous times, this is the first time one has been observed in such detail.

“We have found that the star has been experiencing a significant change in the last 10 years, providing us with a rare opportunity to witness a star’s life in real time,” explained Gerd Weigelt, an astronomy professor at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany and a co-author of the study.

The team added it believes the shed material may also be responsible for the star dimming, and the unprecedented shape of the dust cocoon around the star. Scientists studying the images were surprised by how the cocoon is stretched-out, as they expected a different shape based on previous observations and computer models. The team, however, believe the odd shape could be due either to the star’s shedding or by the influence of a yet-undiscovered companion star.

"This star is one of the most extreme of its kind, and any drastic change may bring it closer to an explosive end," remarked co-author Jacco van Loon, Keele Observatory Director at Keele University, UK, who has been observing WOH G64 since the 1990s.

The astronomers noted that as the distant star becomes fainter, taking more close-up images of it becomes increasingly difficult, even for the VLTI. However, there are planned upgrades to the telescope’s instrumentation, such as the future GRAVITY+, which promise to change that.