hip-82493

Its story

In Scorpius burns a rare O-type star, the hottest and most luminous category in the stellar catalogue. Variable, massive and violent, it drives winds that carve bubbles into the surrounding interstellar medium. At magnitude 5.23 it is barely sensed at the edge of nocturnal sight, yet its nature belongs to the elite of stars that will end their days as supernovae, returning to space the heavy elements from which new worlds will form.