For the very first time!

Successful close-up of star outside galaxy

WOH G64 is a red giant, a bloated, dying star about 2000 times larger than the sun that is constantly ejecting gas and dust into space.(Bild: AFP, European Southern Observatory)

For the first time, astronomers have taken a close-up image of a star outside our galaxy. The star now pictured, WOH G64, is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud - 160,000 light years away from Earth.

Astronomers have already succeeded in making the shape and details of around two dozen stars in the Milky Way visible using the latest technology - combining several telescopes to form what is known as an interferometer. This has not yet been possible for stars outside our galaxy.

According to the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the dying star WOH G64 is 160,000 light years away. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year. It takes just over eight minutes to travel from the earth to the sun. 

Star WOH G64 is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.(Bild: AFP, European Southern Observatory)

WOH G64 will explode in a few thousand years
The star WOH G64 shown here is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The images taken with the ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer in Chile show that the star is surrounded by an egg-shaped cocoon of gas.

Astronomers expect WOH G64 to explode in a few thousand years - just a moment in astronomical terms. It therefore offers researchers a unique insight into the last phase of a star's life.