Supergiant star’s gigantic bubble surprises scientists
2025-08-20
(Press-News.org) Astronomers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have discovered a vast and expanding bubble of gas and dust surrounding a red supergiant star – the largest structure of its kind ever seen in the Milky Way. The bubble, which contains as much mass as the Sun, was blown out in a mysterious stellar eruption around 4000 years ago. Why the star survived such a powerful event is a puzzle, the scientists say.
The new results are published in the scientific journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the team was led by Mark Siebert, Chalmers, Sweden. Using the ALMA radio telescope in Chile, the researchers observed the star DFK 52 – a red supergiant similar to the well-known star Betelgeuse.
“We got a big surprise when we saw what ALMA was showing us. The star is more or less a twin of Betelgeuse, but it’s surrounded by a vast, messy bubble of material,” says Mark Siebert at Chalmers.
The bubble, a complex of clouds of gas and dust, weighs as much as the Sun, and extends out 1.4 light years from the star. That’s thousands of times wider than our own solar system.
If the star was as close to us as Betelgeuse is, the bubble would appear to span a third of the full Moon’s width in the sky.
ALMA’s radio observations let astronomers measure the motion of molecules in the cloud, revealing that the bubble is expanding. They believe it was formed when the star suddenly ejected part of its outer layers in a powerful explosion just a few thousand years ago.
“The bubble is made of material that used to be part of the star. It must have been ejected in a dramatic event, an explosion, that happened about four thousand years ago. In cosmic terms, that’s just a moment ago,” says Elvire De Beck, astronomer at Chalmers.
The galaxy's next supernova?
Why DFK 52 shed so much mass without exploding as a supernova is still unclear. One possibility is that the star has a hidden companion that helped it cast off its outer layers.
“To us, it’s a mystery as to how the star managed to expel so much material in such a short timeframe. Maybe, like Betelgeuse seems to, it has a companion star that’s still to be discovered,” says Mark Siebert.
Red supergiants like DFK 52 are nearing the ends of their lives and are expected to eventually explode as supernovae. Could this star be next?
“We’re planning more observations to understand what’s happening – and to find out whether this might be the Milky Way’s next supernova. If this is a typical red supergiant, it could explode sometime in the next million years,” says Elvire De Beck.
More about the research:
The research is presented in the paper "Stephenson 2 DFK 52: Discovery of an exotic red supergiant in the massive stellar cluster RSGC2", published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. The image has been featured as ESO’s Picture of the Week.
The researchers involved in the study are Mark Siebert, Elvire De Beck and Wouter Vlemmings from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and Guillermo Quintana Lacaci from Instituto de Fisica Fundamental, Spain.
Red supergiants are some of the rarest, brightest stars in the sky. They are the final stage of evolution of stars born much more massive than the Sun (more than eight times the Sun’s mass). For astronomers, they are keys to understanding the life stories of all stars and planets. The most massive stars create and spread newly-formed elements throughout interstellar space, energising gas and dust, and helping new generations of stars to form.
The closest red supergiants in our galaxy, the Milky Way, are easily visible for anyone with a clear view of a dark night sky. Betelgeuse, in the constellation Orion, and Antares, in Scorpius, are both well-known examples of red supergiant stars.
More about the ALMA telescope:
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility in Chile, is a partnership of ESO, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile.
In Sweden, Onsala Space Observatory at Chalmers University of Technology, has been involved in ALMA since its inception; receivers for the telescope are one of many contributions. Onsala Space Observatory is host to the Nordic ALMA Regional Centre, which provides technical expertise to the ALMA project and supports astronomers in the Nordic countries in using ALMA.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2025-08-20
The British evolutionary biologist JBS Haldane is said to have quipped that any divine being evidently had ‘an ordinate fondness for beetles’. This bon mot conveyed an important truth: the ‘tree of life’ – the family tree of all species, living or extinct – is very uneven. In places, it resembles a dense thicket of short twigs; elsewhere it has only sparse but long branches. A few groups tend to predominate: as Haldane pointed out, more than 40% of extant insects are beetles, while 60% of birds ...
2025-08-20
Europe is experiencing longer and more intense transmission seasons for mosquito-borne diseases, including WNV infection and chikungunya virus disease. This shift is driven by climatic and environmental factors such as rising temperatures, longer summer seasons, milder winters and changes in rainfall patterns — conditions that combine to create a favourable environment for mosquitoes to thrive and transmit viruses. Pamela Rendi-Wagner, ECDC Director, said:
'Europe is entering a new phase — where longer, more widespread and more ...
2025-08-20
A new study led by William & Mary’s Batten School & VIMS shows that tidal marshes, including both natural wetlands and man-made living shorelines, generate approximately $90 million annually in economic value for communities across Virginia’s Middle Peninsula.
Published in the journal Nature-Based Solutions and funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Chesapeake Bay Fisheries Research Program (NA21NMF4570524-T1–01), the study combined ecological data, spatial modeling, economic valuation and stakeholder ...
2025-08-20
Mass General Brigham researchers identified seven molecules in the blood linked to excessive daytime sleepiness, including factors related to diet and hormones.
Approximately one in three Americans reports experiencing overwhelming drowsiness during the day—a condition known as excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). EDS is linked to an increased risk of serious conditions such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. A new study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham and Beth ...
2025-08-20
Researchers have shown that there is strong evidence that e-cigarette use may act as a gateway to cigarette smoking and other health issues in young people.
A review of reviews has revealed that there is a consistent link between e-cigarette use and later cigarette smoking, as well as potential links between vaping and a range of health issues, including asthma, mental health concerns, and drug use.
Researchers, from the University of York and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), argue that more research is needed to determine whether there is a direct cause and effect, but the consistency of the findings between the studies conducted ...
2025-08-20
Vaping among teens and young people is consistently linked to subsequent smoking, marijuana and alcohol use, finds an overarching (umbrella) review of systematic reviews of the evidence, published online in the journal Tobacco Control.
And it’s associated with other harmful consequences, including heightened risks of asthma, cough, injuries and mental ill health as well as possibly pneumonia, bronchitis, headaches, migraine, dizziness/lightheadedness, low sperm count, and poor mouth health.
The findings reinforce policy measures to restrict sales and marketing ...
2025-08-20
A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, found predominantly in fish oils, may help ward off the development of short sightedness (myopia) in children, while a high intake of saturated fats, found in foods such as butter, palm oil, and red meat, may boost the risk of the condition, finds research published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
The global prevalence of myopia is rising, especially in East Asia, and it’s predicted that around half of the world’s population will be affected by 2050, note the researchers.
Risk factors ...
2025-08-20
A series of hide-and-seek experiments with a bonobo named Kanzi shows for the first time that apes can mentally keep track of multiple familiar humans at once, even when they are out of sight.
Kanzi could also recognize caregivers from their voices alone, an ability never before tested on bonobos.
The work, led by Johns Hopkins University’s Social and Cognitive Origins Group, answers key questions about how animals manage to keep track of their groupmates and uncovers yet another aspect of human social cognition shared with our closest relatives.
“People think social intelligence is a thing that makes humans unique—that because we have to manage so many different relationships, ...
2025-08-20
What lies beneath Fickle Hill in northern California? Maybe the answer to an earthquake mystery that has puzzled seismologists for decades.
The origin of the 1954 magnitude 6.5 earthquake that rattled residents around Humboldt Bay has been unclear, but a new study now suggests a surprising source: the Cascadia subduction interface.
In the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, a team of researchers shares the scientific sleuthing that led them to that conclusion, in a tale that combines fading paper records, modern methods and modeling, and eyewitness accounts of the event.
The ...
2025-08-20
Teaching about periods in schools is still too focused on basic biological facts with insufficient information around how menstruation can affect a woman’s mood and wellbeing, problems associated with menstrual bleeding and the impact on physical and academic performance, concludes a new study by UCL (University College London) researchers.
The survey and focus group based research, published in the academic journal Women’s Health, also suggests that periods should be taught amongst mixed sex groups as well as single sex at both primary and ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Supergiant star’s gigantic bubble surprises scientists
