Images of a white dwarf in the Large Megallanic Cloud

The earth’s sun is a typical yellow star. It has a life-span of between 10 and 12 years. It is already 4.6 billion years ago. Although the sun is in no danger of losing its brightness any time soon, there will come a time (five billion years hence) when the sun will begin to lose its intensity, grow cooler and larger. Those events will mark the death of the sun. The death of a star is a violent phenomenon; and one of the most beautiful in the entire universe.

Telescopes have recorded some beautiful red structures that astronomers say are the death remains of a white dwarf (a dead star). The remnants are found in the Large Megallanic Cloud which is 150,000 light years (the distance light travels in a year) away from the earth. The images captured of the white dwarf offer us a glimpse into the future of our sun some five billion years from now. The sun will collapse under its own weight as it cools down and end its life in a huge explosion. The explosion will release a bright red hydrogen material which will glow red in the vast vacuousness of the interstellar space.

The white dwarf in the Large Megallanic Cloud is a Type Ia supernova. It is the result of a collpsing star exploding under its own weight and heat. This kind of explosion can result in two or three white dwarfs, or even a red giant. No new star is taking birth in SNR 0519, observations note.