Astronomers have confirmed that one of the fastest-changing stars ever observed has entered a new stage of its evolution, offering a rare opportunity to watch a star’s life unfold on human timescales.

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, researchers including scientists from The University of Manchester and the Valongo Observatory studied Sakurai’s Object, a rare “born-again” star that unexpectedly burst back to life in 1996 after reaching the final stages of its evolution.

Their findings, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, show that the star has entered a new phase of its evolution, developing the powerful stellar wind characteristic of Wolf-Rayet stars.