The Largest Star in the Universe Is Getting Ready to Explode
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Right now, in the galaxy 160,000 light years from Earth, known as the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the largest objects in the Universe is dying. This is WOH G64, a red hypergiant whose thermonuclear fusion has completely lost stability.
At the end of 2024, astronomers obtained the first detailed image of this star using the VLTI interferometer. They discovered that it is rapidly shedding its outer layers, forming a dense, elongated cocoon of dust around itself. This is nothing other than the star’s “flesh,” which is being violently ejected into space by internal radiation pressure.
The scale of WOH G64 goes beyond human comprehension. Its radius is 1,540 solar radii, equal to 665 million miles (1.07 billion km). If this monster were at the center of our Solar System, its outer boundary would engulf the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and even reach Jupiter’s orbit!
Despite shining about 450,000 times brighter than the Sun, the star in question is in a state of terminal collapse. Every second, it loses millions of tons of mass as it prepares for its final collapse. Its final explosion will be a catastrophe on a galactic scale. When the core fuel runs out, the resulting supernova will be so powerful that for several weeks it will outshine the entire host galaxy – brighter than billions of stars of the Large Magellanic Cloud combined!
The explosion will be blinding and unimaginably powerful, after which gravity will collapse the remaining mass inward, turning the remnants into a black hole.
But for now, WOH G64 is just a starting point. In the depths of space, there are titans that make this hypergiant seem small in comparison. We’re about to ascend through the list of the most massive and dangerous stars, each new one revealing the insignificance of our Sun in the face of the true “keepers” of this Universe.
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