Close-up Image of Star WOH G64 in Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | ESO

Close-up Image of Star WOH G64 in Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | ESO

This image shows a bright oval structure, surrounded by a fainter larger ring, against a black background. The oval corresponds to the light coming from the star WOH G64 and the dust cocoon around it, while the ring may be the inner side of a torus of dust around them.

This image shows an artist’s reconstruction of the star WOH G64, the first star outside our galaxy to be imaged in close-up. It is located at a staggering distance of over 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This artistic impression showcases its main features: an egg-shaped cocoon of dust surrounding the star and a ring or torus of dust. The existence and shape of the latter require more observations to be confirmed.

Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, at a staggering distance of over 160,000 light-years from us, WOH G64 is a dying star roughly 2,000 times the size of the Sun. This image of the star (left) is the first close-up picture of a star outside our galaxy. This breakthrough was possible thanks to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO’s VLTI), located in Chile. The image on the right shows an artist’s reconstruction of the star WOH G64.

The first image shows a close-up view of the star WOH G64, taken by the GRAVITY instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO’s VLTI). It is the first close-up picture of a star outside our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The star is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, over 160,000 light-years away. The bright oval at the center of this image is a dusty cocoon that enshrouds the star. A fainter elliptical ring around it could be the inner rim of a dusty torus, but more observations are needed to confirm this feature. 

Credit: ESO/K. Ohnaka et al., L. Calçada
Release Date: Nov. 21, 2024

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