WOH G64

WOH G64 is a red supergiant star.

The star is in the constellation of Dorado.

A picture of it was published in 2024's fourth quarter; The byline of the picture said that it is the first close-up picture of a star outside the Milky Way; Its photo credit is ESO/K. Ohnaka and some other people.^[1]

It could be [one of]^[2] the largest known star in the known universe (as of 2023),^[3] with a radius of about 1,540 times that of the Sun.^[4]

The star is also one of the coolest stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, with an effective temperature of 3,400 Kelvin. It is a possible Mira variable.

WOH G64 is surrounded by a thick dust envelope of about a light year in diameter. This envelope is made of expelled material and is three to nine times the Sun's mass. It was created by the strong stellar wind.^[5] If placed at the center of the Solar System, the star's photosphere would engulf the orbit of Jupiter.

1. ↑ https://yle.fi/a/74-20125727. Retrieved 2024-11-21
2. ↑ https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2023/02/16/largest-star-universe-red-hypergiant/11075755002/. Retrieved 2024-11-22
3. ↑ Jones, O. C.; Woods, P. M.; Kemper, F.; Kraemer, K. E.; Sloan, G. C.; Srinivasan, S.; Oliveira, J. M.; Van Loon, J. Th.; Boyer, M. L.; Sargent, B. A.; McDonald, I.; Meixner, M.; Zijlstra, A. A.; Ruffle, P. M. E.; Lagadec, E.; Pauly, T.; Sewiło, M.; Clayton, G. C.; Volk, K. (2017). "The SAGE-Spec Spitzer Legacy program: The life-cycle of dust and gas in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Point source classification – III". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 470 (3): 3250–3282. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx1101.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
4. ↑ Levesque, Emily M.; Massey, Philip; Plez, Bertrand; Olsen, Knut A. G. (2009-06-01). "The physical properties of the red supergiant WOH G64: the largest star known?". The Astronomical Journal. 137 (6): 4744–4752. arXiv:0903.2260. Bibcode:2009AJ....137.4744L. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/137/6/4744. ISSN 0004-6256. S2CID 18074349.
5. ↑ Ohnaka, K.; Driebe, T.; Hofmann, K.H.; Weigelt, G.; Wittkowski, M. (2009). "Resolving the dusty torus and the mystery surrounding LMC red supergiant WOH G64". Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. 4: 454–458. Bibcode:2009IAUS..256..454O. doi:10.1017/S1743921308028858.