Massive Star's Mystery Evolution Stuns Astronomers

The colossal star WOH G64, boasting 28 times the sun's mass, is exhibiting an unprecedented evolutionary behavior. Residing in the Large Magellanic Cloud, approximately 160,000 light-years away, this star is one of the largest known. Between its formation around 10 million years ago and the present, WOH G64 has astonished scientists.

Observations revealed a dramatic color shift in 2014, indicating an increase in its surface temperature. It rapidly evolved from a red supergiant into a yellow hypergiant, a transformation that occurred too quickly for current stellar models to explain. This event occurred without any observable eruption or explosion, adding to the mystery.

If placed in our solar system, WOH G64's surface would stretch between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. Its luminosity is 300,000 times greater than the sun's, and its diameter is 1,500 times larger. The star is believed to be nearing the end of its relatively short lifespan, unlike our sun which is expected to last another 5 billion years.

Adding complexity, WOH G64 is part of a binary system, potentially interacting with an unseen companion star. Scientists hypothesize that a prior violent event might have caused its red phase, or that interaction with its binary partner mimicked this appearance. Further study of WOH G64 is expected to significantly advance our understanding of massive star life cycles and deaths.