The largest star in the Milky Way, VY Canis Majoris, is slowly dying as astronomers watch helplessly.
Although they are powerless to save the dying star, scientists can learn more about what happens to red hypergiants after they die thanks to this observation.
The largest star is VY Canis Majoris, a massive red hypergiant that is 1,000 times bigger than the Sun. Because such stars are extremely uncommon, scientists know very little about what happens to them after they die.
Astronomers used to think that stars died and then exploded into supernovae. However, they now think that it might not be the case after tracking molecular emissions from stars.
No red hypergiant, including the largest star in the Milky Way, has yet been completely mapped out, according to researcher Lucy Ziurys from the University of Arizona.
According to Ziurys and the other scientists, dying hypergiants like this one could become black holes.
