R136a1

R136a1

A near-infrared image of the R136 cluster. R136a1 is at the center with R136a2 close by, R136a3 below right, and R136b to the left.
Credit: ESO/VLT
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0
Constellation Dorado
Right ascension 5h 38m 42.39s[1]
Declination −69° 06′ 02.91″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 12.23[1]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage Wolf–Rayet star
Spectral type WN5h[2]
B−V color index 0.03[1]
Astrometry
Distance163,000 ly
(49,970[3] pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)−8.18[4]
Details
Mass196+34
−27[5] M☉
Radius42.7[6] R☉
Luminosity4,677,000[5] L☉
Surface gravity (log g)3.65[6] cgs
Temperature46,000+1,250
−2,375[6] K
Rotational velocity (v sin i)160[6] km/s
Age1.14+0.17
−0.14[6] Myr
Other designations
BAT99 108, RMC 136a1, HSH95 3, WO84 1b, NGC 2070 MH 498, CHH92 1, P93 954
Database references
SIMBADdata

R136a1 (short for RMC 136a1) is one of the most massive and luminous stars known, at nearly 200 M☉ and nearly 4.7 million L☉, and is also one of the hottest, at around 46,000 K. It is a Wolf–Rayet star at the center of R136, the central concentration of stars of the large NGC 2070 open cluster in the Tarantula Nebula (30 Doradus) in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The cluster can be seen in the far southern celestial hemisphere with binoculars or a small telescope, at magnitude 7.25. R136a1 itself is 100 times fainter than the cluster and can only be resolved using speckle interferometry.

  1. ^ a b c d Doran, E. I.; Crowther, P. A.; de Koter, A.; Evans, C. J.; McEvoy, C.; Walborn, N. R.; Bastian, N.; Bestenlehner, J. M.; Gräfener, G.; Herrero, A.; Kohler, K.; Maiz Apellaniz, J.; Najarro, F.; Puls, J.; Sana, H.; Schneider, F. R. N.; Taylor, W. D.; van Loon, J. Th.; Vink, J. S. (2013). "The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey - XI. A census of the hot luminous stars and their feedback in 30 Doradus". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 558: A134. arXiv:1308.3412. Bibcode:2013A&A...558A.134D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321824. S2CID 118510909.
  2. ^ Hainich, R.; Rühling, U.; Todt, H.; Oskinova, L. M.; Liermann, A.; Gräfener, G.; Foellmi, C.; Schnurr, O.; Hamann, W. -R. (2014). "The Wolf–Rayet stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 565: A27. arXiv:1401.5474. Bibcode:2014A&A...565A..27H. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201322696. S2CID 55123954.
  3. ^ Pietrzyński, G; D. Graczyk; W. Gieren; I. B. Thompson; B. Pilecki; A. Udalski; I. Soszyński; et al. (7 March 2013). "An eclipsing-binary distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud accurate to two per cent". Nature. 495 (7439): 76–79. arXiv:1303.2063. Bibcode:2013Natur.495...76P. doi:10.1038/nature11878. PMID 23467166. S2CID 4417699.
  4. ^ Bestenlehner, Joachim M.; Crowther, Paul A.; Caballero-Nieves, Saida M.; Schneider, Fabian R. N.; Simón-Díaz, Sergio; Brands, Sarah A.; De Koter, Alex; Gräfener, Götz; Herrero, Artemio; Langer, Norbert; Lennon, Daniel J.; Maíz Apellániz, Jesus; Puls, Joachim; Vink, Jorick S. (2020). "The R136 star cluster dissected with Hubble Space Telescope/STIS. II. Physical properties of the most massive stars in R136". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 499 (2): 1918. arXiv:2009.05136. Bibcode:2020MNRAS.499.1918B. doi:10.1093/mnras/staa2801.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Kalari was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c d e Brands, Sarah A.; de Koter, Alex; Bestenlehner, Joachim M.; Crowther, Paul A.; Sundqvist, Jon O.; Puls, Joachim; Caballero-Nieves, Saida M.; Abdul-Masih, Michael; Driessen, Florian A.; García, Miriam; Geen, Sam (2022-02-01). "The R136 star cluster dissected with Hubble Space Telescope/STIS. III. The most massive stars and their clumped winds". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 663: A36. arXiv:2202.11080. Bibcode:2022A&A...663A..36B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202142742. S2CID 247025548.