Where did the star go? The researchers must have asked themselves this when they looked for what G64 looked for through their telescopes. Because the monster with a 2,000-time extent of our sun was no longer recognizable in your data. 160,000 light years away in our accompanying galaxyGreat Magellan Cloud
Apparently dramatic happened: one of the largest stars known to us has collapsed in half.
We explain to you what could be behind the mystery and show by video how a truly explosive resolution of the puzzle looks.
Incidentally, the home galaxy of Woh G64 inevitably heads us inevitably. She will collide with the Milky Way in the relatively near future,.
Calculation of a giant
We have been watching the giant star for a long time. The first data comes from the end of the last century, the latest available in December 2024. For a long time, a giant throws its shells here, as it can be expected for these star types when they approach their existence-a supernova is pending.
But a new study showsthat the giant continues to have been tremendously, but has shrunk to around half in the past ten years-only about the 800-time radius. Its mass has also dropped drastically, since in a light year alone there is almost ten times the matter from which our sun consists. In his youth, Wih G64 probably weighed up to 40 solar masses.
This observed extreme loss of plasma could suggest that the star approaches its end with great steps. Sometimes only a few thousand years still pass before the remaining matter is heavily heated away from still several solar masses in a supernova.
Even in advance, the star was considered a hot candidate for the next star explosions that can be observed from Earth - the new data could confirm the suspicion.
The following video shows you w64 before and after his shrinkage. We also let the star explode in a supernova.
Our sun is not able to ignite such an inferno from its innermost, but solar storms may endanger our technology and in any case - and in any case -.
A thousand years is not exactly soon ...That's correct. For us as humans, even a few years of time, which we experience as extensive. But a millennium is almost nothing for stars.
The typical lifespan of large stars such as what G64 is less than 50 million years.
Our sun, since it is smaller, even fuses hydrogen for about six billion years before it begins to bloze around her 11 billionth birthday. Some time later, a white dwarf star becomes the remnant from the red giant. A so -called planetary fog was then woving around him for some time - the last remnants of the shell of our sun.
The earth has long driven through the blackness as a roasted boulder. In about a billion years of today, the radiation of the sun will have already intensified so far that no life can stand out here (viaUn-osnabrück).
Alternative explanation
However, there is a chance that the Supernova will not fail for the time being. The reason for this assumption would be the suspected accompanying star of Woh G64. It is probably also quite heavy and, like the big brother of the B group. His presence could have distorted the old measurements.
Overall, the location is opaque - literally. Because at least one of the two stars has to blow enormous amounts of matter into space due to extreme activity. Such clouds also make exact data surveys difficult. Correct examinations should clarify whether we can really observe a supernova quasi-live in the coming millennia-provided we will remain as species.
The situation is always exciting for science, because the life cycles of such giant stars are still considered a research field with all kinds of open questions. With every look at the universe we learn one of them.
