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Irish astronomers to solve disappearing star mystery
A TEAM of Irish scientists is trying to solve the mystery of how a star can disappear.
Its absence was discovered with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope after first being detected nearly 20 years ago.
Astronomers from Trinity College Dublin, led by Professor Jose Groh, are now investigating the cosmic puzzle.
Its sudden disappearance could indicate the star either became less bright and partially obscured by dust, or it collapsed into a black hole without producing a supernova – a massive explosion.
Project leader Andrew Allan said: “If true, this would be the first direct detection of such a monster star ending its life in this manner.
“It would be highly unusual for such a massive star to disappear without producing a bright supernova explosion.”
Between 2001 and 2011 astronomers studied the mysterious massive star, located in the Kinman dwarf galaxy and their observations indicated it was in a late stage of its evolution.
Mr Allan and his collaborators in the European Southern Observatory and the US wanted to find out more about how massive stars die.
But when they searched for it in the distant galaxy in 2019, they could no longer find the tell-tale signatures of the star.
Located 75 million lightyears away in the constellation of Aquarius, Kinman is too far away for astronomers to see its individual stars, but they can detect the signatures of some of them.
Prof Groh said: “We may have detected one of the most massive stars going gently into the night.
“We will need to wait a few years before confirming what fate befell it. We will observe the galaxy again with the Hubble telescope, which will provide new clues.”
75 million light years – how far away Kinman galaxy is from Earth