VLTI Captures Detailed Image of Red Supergiant in Large Magellanic Cloud
Nov 21, 2024 by News Staff
Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) have captured a zoomed-in image of the dust-enshrouded red supergiant star WOH G64.
This image, taken by the GRAVITY instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, shows the red supergiant WOH G64. Image credit: ESO / Ohnaka et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202451820.
WOH G64 is located approximately 160,000 light-years away in the constellation of Dorado.
Also known as IRAS 04553-6825, 2MASS J04551048-6820298 or TIC 30186593, the star is part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the small galaxies that orbits our Milky Way Galaxy.
With a size roughly 2,000 times that of our Sun, WOH G64 is classified as a red supergiant.
“We discovered an egg-shaped cocoon closely surrounding the star,” said Dr. Keiichi Ohnaka, an astrophysicist at the Universidad Andrés Bello. “We are excited because this may be related to the drastic ejection of material from the dying star before a supernova explosion.”
“While astronomers have taken about two dozen zoomed-in images of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, unveiling their properties, countless other stars dwell within other galaxies, so far away that observing even one of them in detail has been extremely challenging — up until now.”
More:
https://www.sci.news/astronomy/vlti-image-red-supergiant-large-magellanic-cloud-13446.html