ESO Press release: Aging Star’s Weight Loss Secret Revealed
A team of astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured the most detailed images ever of the hypergiant star VY Canis Majoris. These observations show how the unexpectedly large size of the particles of dust surrounding the star enable it to lose an enormous amount of mass as it begins to die. This process, understood now for the first time, is necessary to prepare such gigantic stars to meet explosive demises as supernovae. Prof. Joris Blommaert (Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Group, VUB) is co-author of the paper presenting the results of the observations.
These observations show how the unexpectedly large size of the particles of dust surrounding the star enable it to lose an enormous amount of mass as it begins to die. This process, understood now for the first time, is necessary to prepare such gigantic stars to meet explosive demises as supernovae. Read the full article.
This research was presented in a paper entitled “Large dust grains in the wind of VY Canis Majoris”, by P. Scicluna et al., to appear in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The team is composed of P. Scicluna (Academia Sinica Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Taiwan), R. Siebenmorgen (ESO, Garching, Germany), J. Blommaert (Vrije Universiteit, Brussels, Belgium), M. Kasper (ESO, Garching, Germany), N.V. Voshchinnikov (St. Petersburg University, St. Petersburg, Russia), R. Wesson (ESO, Santiago, Chile) and S. Wolf (Kiel University, Kiel, Germany).
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.