Antares has shed material equal to three times the mass of our Sun during its lifetime.
Key Takeaways
- The sharpest-ever image of the massive red supergiant Antares was created by astronomers.
- Antares, 12 times the Sun’s mass and 700 times its diameter, offers fascinating insights.
- Using the VLTI in Chile, researchers mapped Antares’ surface and gas motions for the first time.
- This breakthrough resolves a half-century-old puzzle about how stars like Antares lose mass.
- The VLTI’s method opens a “new window” for observing stars’ surfaces and atmospheres in detail.
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Astronomers have achieved a groundbreaking milestone by capturing the clearest image yet of Antares, a red supergiant located over 600 light years from Earth. This massive star, with 12 times the Sun’s mass and a diameter 700 times larger, has fascinated scientists for decades. Using advanced technology from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in Chile, the team successfully mapped the star’s surface and tracked the motions of its atmospheric gas in unprecedented detail.
Mapping Antares’ Turbulent Surface
Antares’ colossal size and turbulent behavior made it an ideal candidate for study. During its lifespan, the star has ejected material equaling three times the Sun’s mass. To capture this groundbreaking image, the VLTI combined light from up to four separate telescopes to create a virtual telescope equivalent to a single mirror 200 meters across.
The researchers, led by Keiichi Ohnaka, utilized an instrument called AMBER to capture Antares’ surface across various infrared wavelengths. By analyzing the gas velocities at different points on the star’s surface relative to the average atmospheric speed, they created the first-ever map of gas motion across the entire surface of a star other than the Sun.
This breakthrough sheds light on a long-standing mystery in astrophysics: why stars like Antares lose mass so rapidly during the later stages of their evolution. The findings represent a crucial step toward understanding the turbulent motions driving this mass loss.
A New Era of Stellar Observations
According to Ohnaka, the VLTI is uniquely capable of directly measuring gas motion in the extended atmospheres of stars, enabling studies that were previously impossible. This method could be applied to different types of stars, offering astronomers an “entirely new window” into the detailed observation of stellar surfaces and atmospheres.
The success of the Antares study highlights the transformative potential of this approach. By expanding its application to other stars, astronomers aim to unravel more mysteries surrounding stellar behavior, particularly in stars nearing the end of their lifecycles.
Ohnaka noted that while this achievement is significant, the next challenge lies in identifying the mechanisms behind the turbulent gas motions observed on Antares. The data and techniques developed in this study pave the way for future explorations, making it possible to understand not only red supergiants but also other classes of stars in unparalleled detail.