A giant star is changing before our eyes and astronomers are watching in real time

The WOH G64 star looked to be accelerating to its end of life. But now astronomers are not sure that’s the case.

By: Keiichi Ohnaka, Universidad Andrés Bello (Chile) and Jacco van Loon, Keele University, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: February 9, 2026

Words: 1,155

Last Updated: 1 month ago

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By Keiichi Ohnaka, Universidad Andrés Bello (Chile) and Jacco van Loon, Keele University

For decades, astronomers have been watching WOH G64, an enormous heavyweight star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy visible with the naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere. This star is more than 1,500 times larger than the Sun and emitting over 100,000 times more energy. For a long time, red supergiant WOH G64 looked like a star steadily reaching the end …

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