“An egg-shaped cocoon”: a star outside the Milky Way has been photographed for the first time

This is WOH G64, or “the colossal star” as astronomers call it. A unique photo of this star, located 160,000 light years from our blue planet, was unveiled on November 21 by ESO (the European Southern Observatory). Because this photo is the first we have taken of a star outside our galaxy, the Milky Way, thanks to the telescope Gravity.

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WOH G64 is actually located in a small neighboring galaxy, the Large Magelan Cloud, and it is of particular interest to scientists.

“We discovered an egg-shaped cocoon”

In the photo released by ESO, we see that the shape of this star is oval, and that it seems surrounded by a halo. “We discovered an egg-shaped cocoon tightly surrounding the star,” explains Keiichi Ohnaka, an astrophysicist at the University of Andrés Bello in Chile. This elongated shape is due, according to his expertise, to “the matter ejected by the central star and which still surrounds it. […] Although additional observations are necessary to definitively confirm it, we believe that this ring is also made up of material ejected by the star,” he explains to Agence France-Presse.

Finally, still according to the astrophysicist, this ejection of matter which seems to be heading towards specific points, could be explained by the presence of a companion: a second star, smaller, therefore more difficult to discern.

A small step towards the rest of the universe?

The scientists’ objective now is to create a computer model of the star to study the movement of these material ejections. But, beyond its intergalactic side, WOH G64 is 2,000 times the size of the Sun, and would above all be at the end of its life. This is evidenced by these famous ejections of materials and a luminosity which weakens over time. These space behemoths, called red supergiants, are particularly closely watched by astronomers.

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Indeed, when a supergiant dies, it produces a huge explosion which creates an extremely rare event: a supernova. In other words, a star nursery, or the best way to learn more about the origins of the universe and life. “The colossal star” could therefore offer us a rare opportunity to observe the end of a star’s life in real time. Just that.