Andromeda
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Star

WOH G64

Also IRAS 04553-6825

Open in Ouranos

A huge star in the Large Magellanic Cloud wrapped in a cocoon of dust, long classed as a red supergiant. What it is now is argued over.

Measured

Distance
161,700 light-years
Constellation
Dorado
Position (J2000)
RA 4h 55m 11s, Dec −68.34°

How far, from the Sun

162,000 light-years. To cross it:

  • Light162,000 years
  • Voyager 1's speed2.87 billion years
  • Driving at 100 km/h1.75 trillion years

Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.

Facts

  • Announced in 2024, the VLT Interferometer's first close-up image of a star in another galaxy shows this one, observed in December 2020.
  • Its brightness and spectrum have changed since 2011. Muñoz Sánchez and colleagues read that as a change towards a yellow hypergiant; van Loon and Ohnaka (2026) still find titanium oxide in its spectrum and call it a red supergiant. Both suggest a companion star, which others find unproven.
  • It is placed at the Large Magellanic Cloud's distance, measured from eclipsing binary stars.

Where this comes from

  • Placed at the Large Magellanic Cloud's distance: Pietrzyński et al. 2019, eclipsing binaries (49.59 ± 0.55 kpc)
  • This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, CDS, Strasbourg, France (Wenger et al. 2000, A&AS 143, 9).
  • This research has made use of the VizieR catalogue access tool, CDS, Strasbourg, France (DOI: 10.26093/cds/vizier).

Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.