R136a2

R136a2

The central region of the R136 star cluster as seen in near infrared. R136a1 and R136a2 are the two very close bright stars at the center, with R136a2 being the fainter of the two.
Credit: ESO
Observation data
Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation Dorado
Right ascension 05h 38m 42.40s[1]
Declination −69° 06′ 02.88″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 12.34[1]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage Wolf-Rayet star
Spectral type WN5h[2]
B−V color index 0.23[1]
Astrometry
Distance163,000 ly
(50,000[3] pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)-7.80[4]
Absolute bolometric
magnitude (Mbol)		-12.0[5]
Details[6][7]
Mass151+27
−16 M☉
Radius25.2+4.1
−3.5 R☉
Luminosity3,548,000 L☉
Temperature50,000 K
Rotational velocity (v sin i)150 km/s
Age1.34+0.13
−0.18 Myr
Other designations
MH 511, RMC 136a2, HSH95 5, BAT99 109, CHH92 2
Database references
SIMBADdata

R136a2 (RMC 136a2) is a Wolf-Rayet star residing near the center of the R136, the central concentration of stars of the large NGC 2070 open cluster in the Tarantula Nebula, a massive H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud which is a nearby satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It has one of the highest confirmed masses and luminosities of any known star, at about 151 M☉ and 3.5 million L☉ respectively.

  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.; Köhler, K.; Maíz Apellániz, 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. ^ Schnurr, O.; Chené, A.-N.; Casoli, J.; Moffat, A. F. J.; St-Louis, N. (2009). "VLT/SINFONI time-resolved spectroscopy of the central, luminous, H-rich WN stars of R136". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 397 (4): 2049. arXiv:0905.2934. Bibcode:2009MNRAS.397.2049S. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15060.x. S2CID 11425847.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference distance was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  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. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Brands, S.; de Koter, A.; Bestenlehner, J.; Crowther, P.; Sundqvist, J.; Puls, J.; Caballero-Nieves, S.; Abdul-Masih, M.; Driessen, F.; Garcia, M.; Geen, S.; Gräfener, G.; Hawcroft, C.; Kaper, L.; Keszthelyi, Z.; Langer, N.; Sana, H.; Schneider, Fabian R. N.; Shenar, T.; Vink, Jorick S. (7 April 2022). "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. ISSN 0004-6361. S2CID 247025548.
  7. ^ Kalari, Venu M.; Horch, Elliott P.; Salinas, Ricardo; Vink, Jorick S.; Andersen, Morten; Bestenlehner, Joachim M.; Rubio, Monica (2022-07-26). "Resolving the Core of R136 in the Optical". The Astrophysical Journal. 935 (2): 162. arXiv:2207.13078. Bibcode:2022ApJ...935..162K. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac8424. S2CID 251067072.