Giant Star WOH G64 May Not Explode, Is ‘Cannibalized’ by Partner Star

One of the universe’s largest stars, previously predicted to be on the verge of a violent supernova, may not be imminently exploding after all, according to a new study published on January 7, 2026, in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The findings also suggest the stellar “behemoth” is interacting with a smaller, previously undetected companion star.

WOH G64, often called the “behemoth star,” is a red supergiant located approximately 163,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way. The star is roughly 1,500 times wider than our Sun and shines up to 282,000 times brighter, making it one of the largest stars ever discovered.

In recent years, observations showed WOH G64 dimming, leading astronomers to believe it was transitioning into a yellow hypergiant – a rare and unstable phase that often precedes a supernova. The appearance of a dust cloud around the star in 2024 further reinforced this hypothesis. Red supergiants typically have a lifespan of around 5 million years, and WOH G64 appeared to be nearing the end of its life.

The initial observations in December 2020, using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in Chile, captured the first closeup image of a star outside our galaxy and revealed the “egg-shaped cocoon” of gas and dust. This was interpreted as evidence of the star shedding its outer layers as it evolved into a yellow hypergiant.

However, new data collected between November 2024 and December 2025 by a team led by Dr. Jacco van Loon at Keele University, using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), challenges this interpretation. The SALT’s spectroscope detected the presence of titanium oxide molecules within WOH G64’s atmosphere. Titanium oxide is typically found only in cooler red supergiants and cannot survive in the hotter environments of yellow hypergiants.

“This implies that WOH G64 is currently a red supergiant and may never have ceased to be,” said Dr. Van Loon in a statement from Keele University. “We are essentially witnessing a ‘phoenix’ rising from the ashes,” he added.

The presence of titanium oxide suggests that WOH G64 hasn’t undergone the suspected transformation into a yellow hypergiant. Instead, the researchers believe something else is interfering with the star’s outer layers, causing the puzzling emissions observed previously.

The team now proposes that WOH G64 is part of a binary system, with a smaller, hot, blue star orbiting the red supergiant. This companion star is likely gravitationally pulling material from WOH G64, creating a circumstellar disk. The interaction between the two stars stretches out the red supergiant’s atmosphere, but hasn’t stripped it away entirely.

“The atmosphere of the red supergiant is being stretched out by the approach of the companion star, but it has not been stripped altogether,” explained Dr. Van Loon. “It persists.”

The discovery of this companion star explains the unusual behavior observed in WOH G64. While the star isn’t necessarily out of danger, the immediate threat of a supernova appears to have diminished. Further observations will be needed to fully understand the dynamics of this binary system and predict the eventual fate of the stellar behemoth.