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Astronomers utilizing ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) have actually recorded a zoomed-in picture of the dust-enshrouded red supergiant star WOH G64.
This image, taken by the GRAVITY instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, reveals the red supergiant WOH G64. Image credit: ESO/ Ohnaka et aldoi: 10.1051/ 0004-6361/2024 51820.
WOH G64 lies roughly 160,000 light-years away in the constellation of Dorado.
Understood as IRAS 04553-6825, 2MASS J04551048-6820298 or TIC 30186593, the star is part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the little galaxies that orbits our Milky Way Galaxy.
With a size approximately 2,000 times that of our Sun, WOH G64 is categorized as a red supergiant.
“We found an egg-shaped cocoon carefully surrounding the star,” stated Dr. Keiichi Ohnaka, an astrophysicist at the Universidad Andrés Bello.
“We are thrilled since this might be associated with the extreme ejection of product from the passing away star before a supernova surge.”
“While astronomers have actually taken about 2 lots zoomed-in pictures of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, revealing their residential or commercial properties, many other stars dwell within other galaxies, up until now away that observing even among them in information has actually been exceptionally difficult– up previously.”
An artist’s restoration of the red supergiant WOH G64. Image credit: ESO/ L. Calçada.
Dr. Ohnaka and associates had actually long been intrigued in WOH G64.
Back in 2005 and 2007, they utilized VLTI to find out more about the star’s functions, and continued studying it in the years because. A real image of the star had actually stayed evasive.
For the wanted photo, they needed to await the advancement of among the VLTI’s second-generation instruments, GRAVITY.
After comparing their brand-new outcomes with other previous observations of WOH G64, they were shocked to discover that the star had actually ended up being dimmer over the previous years.
“We have actually discovered that the star has actually been experiencing a substantial modification in the last 10 years, supplying us with an uncommon chance to witness a star’s life in genuine time,” stated Professor Gerd Weigelt, an astronomer at limit Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.
In their last life phases, red supergiants like WOH G64 shed their external layers of gas and dust in a procedure that can last countless years.
“This star is among the most severe of its kind, and any extreme modification might bring it closer to an explosive end,” stated Dr. Jacco van Loon, director of Keele Observatory at Keele University.
“These shed products might likewise be accountable for the dimming and for the unforeseen shape of the dust cocoon around the star,” the astronomers stated.
The brand-new image reveals that the cocoon is stretched-out, which shocked the scientists, who anticipated a various shape based upon previous observations and computer system designs.
They think that the cocoon’s egg-like shape might be discussed by either the star’s shedding or by the impact of a yet-undiscovered buddy star.
As the star ends up being fainter, taking other close-up photos of it is ending up being significantly challenging, even for VLTI.
Prepared updates to the telescope’s instrumentation, such as the future GRAVITY+, guarantee to alter this quickly.
“Similar follow-up observations with ESO instruments will be essential for comprehending what is going on in the star,” Dr. Ohnaka stated.
The group’s paper was released in the journal Astronomy & & Astrophysics
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K. Ohnaka et al2024. Imaging the inner circumstellar environment of the red supergiant WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. A&A 691, L15; doi: 10.1051/ 0004-6361/2024 51820
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