First close-up image of a star beyond our galaxy may reveal impending supernova

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. We are excited because this may be related to the drastic ejection of material from the dying star before a supernova explosion.” A fading red giant WOH G64 is a red supergiant star 2,000 times larger than our sun, which has led astronomers to call it the “behemoth star.” During the final stages of their lives, red supergiants shed their outer gas and dust layers, a process that can last for thousands of years. Scientists first discovered the star in 1981, and observations by the InfraRed Astronomical Satellite later in the decade revealed WOH G64 was incredibly luminous and one of the most extreme examples of a red supergiant, said study coauthor Jacco van Loon, Keele Observatory director at the UK’s Keele University. L. Calçada/ESO “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,” said study coauthor Gerd Weigelt, an astronomy professor at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, in a statement. “We have never been able to tell precisely when a red supergiant is going to explode, as we can’t look inside it,” van Loon said.