Bubbles seen on star in first-ever detailed images

Images of a star other than the sun have been captured in enough detail to track the motion of bubbling gas on its surface for the first time.

Giant, hot bubbles of gas, 75 times the size of the sun, are visible on the surface of the R Doradus star.

Footage also shows them sinking back into it faster than expected.

Energy is produced in the cores of stars through nuclear fusion and huge, hot bubbles of gas can carry this energy towards the star’s surface.

The images were taken with the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (Alma), a telescope co-owned by the European Southern Observatory, in July and August 2023.