[vsnet-chat 42] Re: supernova progenitor candidates

[Yamaoka Hitoshi <yamaoka@rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp>]

Taichi Kato wrote:

>   What stars in the Galaxy best candidates for supernovae in very near
>future?   How soon eta Car or Betelgeuse can become a supernova?

I guess that the best candidate among the brightest (m_v < 2.5) stars 
is Betelgeuse, but the time of the explosion event is not certain: it
can be today, but it can also be after about a million years. 

About 10 years ago, it is reported that Betelgeuse has companions. I
do not know about details, but from the non-technical book, the nearer
companion has the orbit of a = 3.6 AU and P = 2.1 years. Then the mass
of Betelgeuse is estimated about 10 solar mass. It is near to the
lower limit to explode as a supernova. 

Eta Car may be the most massive star ever observed, but its mass is
not precisely known. 

From the table of the binaries in _Chronological Scientific Tables
(Rika Nenpyo, Japan)_, 32 Cyg A is K1I supergiant and has 23 solar
mass. It should be doubtless to say that it will go supernova next
one million years. 

Hitoshi Yamaoka, Kyushu Univ., Japan
yamaoka@rc.kyushu-u.ac.jp

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