[vsnet-chat 666] Most luminous star

[John Isles <0002032694@MCIMAIL.COM>]

-- [ From: John Isles * EMC.Ver #2.3 ] --

In answer to Timo Kunnunen's question in vsnet-chat 665, here's some
information from Sky & Telescope's electronic News Bulletin for October 10.

Best wishes -- John Isles.

MOST LUMINOUS STAR

There's apparently a new stellar heavyweight champion in the galaxy. It  lies
25,000 light-years away in Sagittarius, and is hidden from view by  dense
clouds of dust. The star was first spotted in infrared observations  several
years ago, but in 1995, astronomer Don Figer suggested that the  star also
created the surrounding cloud of glowing gas, which has been  dubbed the Pistol
Nebula. Figer has followed up with observations using the  Hubble Space
Telescope's recently installed Near-Infrared Camera and Multi- Object
Spectrometer. The star -- which currently emits 10 million times as  much
energy as the Sun -- may be only 1 to 3 million years old, and will  live for
only another 1 to 3 million years before exploding in a supernova.  While it
initially may have been some 200 times the mass of the Sun, it is  actively
throwing off tremendous amounts of matter. The UCLA researcher and  his team
presented Hubble's view of the region this week, clearly showing  material that
Figer estimates was ejected 4,000 and 6,000 years ago.

VSNET Home Page

Return to Daisaku Nogami

---

vsnet-adm@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp