First close-up of star outside our galaxy achieved

The dying star WOH G64 is 160,000 light-years away, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said on Sunday. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year. It takes just over 8 minutes from the Earth to the Sun. WOH G64 is a red giant, a bloated, dying star about 2,000 times larger than the Sun that is constantly spewing gas and dust into space.

Using the latest technology – connecting several telescopes to form a so-called interferometer – astronomers have already succeeded in making the shape and details of around two dozen stars in the Milky Way visible. This has not yet been possible for stars outside our galaxy.

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