Scientists have captured the first-ever close-up shot of a star outside our own galaxy – and it may seem strikingly familiar to some fantasy fans.
The ‘Behemoth Star’ WOH G64 is located a whopping 160,000 light-years from Earth in a neighboring galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Although scientists have known about this star for decades, technological advances have only now made it possible to view it up close.
The incredible image reveals a bright core surrounded by an ‘egg-shaped’ cocoon of dust and gas that looks exactly like the Eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings.
However, scientists say the star’s iris-shaped ring is actually a sign that this red supergiant is on the verge of collapse.
The researchers found that the dying star has grown fainter over the past decade as it sheds its outer layers into space.
Co-author Dr Jacco van Loon, director of the Keele Observatory at Keele University, told MailOnline: ‘Other distant supernova explosions often indicate that the star has thrown out a lot of material in the years or decades leading up to the explosion.
“If this is what WOH G64 is doing right now, we might see it blow up in our lifetime.”
Scientists have taken the first ever close-up image of a star outside our own galaxy (pictured), capturing this stunning image of the ‘Behemoth Star’ WOH G64
Fantasy fans may notice that the image of the star bears a striking resemblance to the Eye of Sharon from Lord of the Rings
Although stars are enormous, the incredible distances that separate them from Earth make them extremely difficult to image.
Even when it comes to stars in our Milky Way, astronomers have only managed to capture images of about 20 stars, such as Betelgeuse, the closest red supergiant to the Sun.
To truly image a star beyond the Milky Way and hundreds of thousands of light-years from Earth requires the use of a specialized technique called ‘interferometry’.
This is where multiple telescopes combine their information to act as if they were a single enormous lens, as wide as the distance between them.
By combining data from multiple large telescopes, astronomers can obtain previously impossible levels of detail from objects incredibly far away from Earth.
Using this technique, the researchers merged images from the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), four telescopes of 8 meters wide.
This allowed the researchers to finally record a close-up image of WOH G64.
Lead author Dr Keiichi Ohnaka, an astronomer from Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile, said: ‘For the first time, we have managed to capture a zoomed-in image of a dying star in a galaxy outside our own Milky Way.’
The star WOH G64 is located in a galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud, more than 160,000 light-years from Earth
This is the first time a star in a neighboring galaxy, such as the Magellanic Cloud (pictured), has ever been captured. This technique could allow scientists to observe the never-before-recorded processes taking place in dying stars
Capturing an image of the star requires using a technique called interferometry to stitch together images from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), four 8-meter-wide telescopes (photo)
Although the researchers say they were mainly trying to prove that these images were possible, they also discovered something unexpected about the Behemoth Star.
Dr. Ohnaka says: ‘We discovered an egg-shaped cocoon close to the star.
“We are excited because this may be related to the drastic ejection of material from the dying star before a supernova explosion.”
When a star uses up the last of its hydrogen fuel, the balance of forces that keeps it stable begins to break down and the star collapses in on itself.
As the outer layers collapse inward, the area around the core becomes so hot that it begins to melt hydrogen atoms into helium.
The enormous amounts of energy generated by this process cause the star to evolve into a huge red giant like WOH G64 and shoot its outer layers into space.
Compared to observations from 2005 and 2007, the researchers noted that WOH G64 has become significantly weaker in the intervening decade.
The researchers think this dimming and the egg-shaped cocoon could be due to the star ‘shedding its cloak’ – a crucial change never seen before.
The researchers say the egg-shaped dust cocoon around the star could be a sign that WOH G64 could explode in a supernova explosion within our lifetime.
Co-author Professor Gerd Weigelt from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy said: ‘We found that the star has undergone a significant change over the past ten years, giving us a rare opportunity to witness the life of a star in the Real. -time.’
Although some stars remain red supergiants for tens of thousands of years before exploding, the sudden change suggests there is a chance that WOH G64 could explode relatively quickly.
This groundbreaking image is therefore an unprecedented opportunity to witness the last days of a dying star.
The researchers are already planning further observations of the star to learn more about what is going on.
And as ESO prepares to further upgrade the VLTI’s equipment, even better images may soon become available.
Dr. Loon concludes: ‘The fact that we were able to take the image is a first step in directly seeing what happens around some of the rarest types of stars, when they do wild things before they die that are difficult to catch in the act.
“We didn’t expect to see this star do something very dramatic, and we would have imaged that, which will help us understand the final stages in the lives of massive stars before they explode.”