VFTS 102

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VFTS 102
Artist's impression of the fastest rotating star.jpg
Artistic depiction of VFTS 102
Observation data
Epoch J2000       Equinox J2000
Constellation Dorado
Right ascension 05h 37m 39.248s [1]
Declination −69° 09′ 51.04″ [1]
Apparent magnitude  (V)15.806 [2]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage Main sequence
Spectral type O9:Vnnne [3]
U−B color index −0.879 [2]
B−V color index +0.293 [2]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)228 [3]  km/s
Proper motion (μ)RA: 7.3 [1]   mas/yr
Dec.: 2.1 [1]   mas/yr
Distance 164,000  ly
(50,000  pc)
Details [3]
Mass ~ 25  M☉
Luminosity 100,000  L☉
Surface gravity (log g)3.6 ± 0.5  cgs
Temperature 36,000 ± 5000  K
Rotational velocity (v sin i)610±30 [4]  km/s
Other designations
2MASS  J05373924-6909510
Database references
SIMBAD data
The position of VFTS 102 in Tarantula nebula VFTS 102.jpg
The position of VFTS 102 in Tarantula nebula

VFTS 102 is a star located in the Tarantula nebula, a star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

The peculiarity of this star is its projected equatorial velocity of ~610  km/s (about 2,000,000  km/h ), making it the second fastest rotating massive star known alongside VFTS 285 (609 km/s), and preceded only by the WO star WR 142 which has a rotational velocity of 1000  km/s . [4] [5] [6] The resulting centripetal force tends to flatten the star; material can be lost in the loosely bound equatorial regions, allowing for the formation of a disk. The spectroscopic observations seem to confirm this, and the star is classified as Oe, possibly due to emission from such an equatorial disk of gas.

This star was observed by the VLT Flames Tarantula Survey collaboration using the VLT, Very Large Telescope in Chile. One member of this team is Matteo Cantiello, an Italian astrophysicist who emigrated to the United States and is currently working at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at University of California Santa Barbara. In 2007, together with a few collaborators, he predicted the existence of massive stars with properties very similar to VFTS 102. In its theoretical model, the extreme rotational speed is caused by the transfer of material from a companion star in a binary system. After this "cosmic dance", the donor star is predicted to explode as a supernova. The spun-up companion instead is likely to be launched out of the orbit and move away from its stellar neighbors at high speed. Such a star is called a runaway. VFTS 102 fits this theoretical model very well, being found to be a rapidly rotating runaway star and lying close to a pulsar and a supernova remnant. Other scenarios, like a dynamical ejection from the core of the star cluster R136, are also possible. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Large Magellanic Cloud</span> Satellite galaxy of the Milky Way

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a dwarf galaxy and satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around 50 kiloparsecs (163,000 light-years), the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal (c. 16 kiloparsecs (52,000 light-years) away) and the possible dwarf irregular galaxy called the Canis Major Overdensity. Based on the D25 isophote at the B-band (445 nm wavelength of light), the Large Magellanic Cloud is about 9.86 kiloparsecs (32,200 light-years) across. It is roughly one-hundredth the mass of the Milky Way and is the fourth-largest galaxy in the Local Group, after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Milky Way, and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarantula Nebula</span> H II region in the constellation Dorado

The Tarantula Nebula is a large H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), forming its south-east corner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136</span> Super star cluster in the constellation Dorado, in the Large Magellanic Cloud

R136 is the central concentration of stars in the NGC 2070 star cluster, which lies at the centre of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. When originally named it was an unresolved stellar object but is now known to include 72 class O and Wolf–Rayet stars within 5 parsecs of the centre of the cluster. The extreme number and concentration of young massive stars in this part of the LMC qualifies it as a starburst region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 2060</span> Star cluster in the constellation Dorado

NGC 2060 is a star cluster within the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, very close to the larger NGC 2070 cluster containing R136. It was discovered by John Herschel in 1836. It is a loose cluster approximately 10 million years old, within one of the Tarantula Nebula's superbubbles formed by the combined stellar winds of the cluster or by old supernovae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136b</span> Star in the constellation Dorado

R136b is a blue supergiant star in the R136 cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is one of the most massive and most luminous stars known. It is found in the dense R136 open cluster at the centre of NGC 2070 in the Tarantula Nebula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136a1</span> Wolf–Rayet star with one of the highest mass and luminosity of any known star

R136a1 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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melnick 42</span> Massive blue supergiant star in the constellation Dorado

Melnick 42 is a massive blue supergiant star in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud located in the constellation Dorado. Although it is only 21 times the size of the sun, its high temperature of 47,300 K makes it one of the most luminous stars of the Tarantula Nebula at 3,600,000 L☉. It is less than two parsecs from the centre of the R136 cluster, although that is well outside the central core.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VFTS 682</span> Wolf Rayet star in the constellation Dorado

VFTS 682 is a Wolf–Rayet star in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is located over 29 parsecs (95 ly) north-east of the massive cluster R136 in the Tarantula Nebula. It is 138 times the mass of the Sun and 3.2 million times more luminous, which makes it one of the most massive and most luminous stars known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136a2</span> Star in the constellation Dorado

R136a2 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136c</span> Star in the constellation Dorado

R136c is a star located in R136, a tight knot of stars at the centre of NGC 2070, an open cluster weighing 450,000 solar masses and containing 10,000 stars. At 142 M☉ and 3.8 million L☉, it is the one of the most massive stars known and one of the most luminous, along with being one of the hottest, at over 40,000 K. It was first resolved and named by Feitzinger in 1980, along with R136a and R136b.

HD 38282 is a massive spectroscopic binary star in the Tarantula Nebula, consisting of two hydrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136a3</span> Star in the constellation Dorado

R136a3 is a Wolf–Rayet star in R136, a massive star cluster located in Dorado. It is located near R136a1, the most massive and luminous star known. R136a3 is itself one of the most massive and most luminous stars known at about 179 times more massive and 5 million times more luminous than the Sun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BI 253</span> O-type main sequence star in the constellation Dorado

BI 253 is an O2V star in the Large Magellanic Cloud and is a primary standard of the O2 type. It is one of the hottest main-sequence stars known and one of the most-massive and most-luminous stars known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melnick 34</span> Binary star in the Large Magellanic cloud

Melnick 34, also called BAT99-116, is a binary Wolf–Rayet star near R136 in the 30 Doradus complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Both components are amongst the most massive and most luminous stars known, and the system is the most massive known binary system.

BAT99-98 is a Wolf–Rayet star located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, in NGC 2070 near the R136 cluster in the Tarantula Nebula. At 226 M☉ and 5,000,000 L☉ it is one of the most massive and luminous stars currently known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VFTS 352</span> Contact binary star system in the constellation Dorado

VFTS 352 is a contact binary star system 160,000 light-years (49,000 pc) away in the Tarantula Nebula, which is part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is the most massive and earliest spectral type overcontact system known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R145</span> Binary star in the constellation Dorado

R145 is a spectroscopic binary star in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud located in the constellation Dorado. Both components are amongst the most luminous known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VFTS 243</span>

VFTS 243 is an O7V type main sequence star that orbits a stellar mass black hole. The black hole is around nine times the mass of the Sun, with the blue star being 25 times the mass of the Sun making the star 200,000 times larger than the black hole. VFTS 243 is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud inside NGC 2070 around 160,000 light years from Earth. The binary has an orbital period of 10.4 days.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Cutri, Roc M.; Skrutskie, Michael F.; Van Dyk, Schuyler D.; Beichman, Charles A.; Carpenter, John M.; Chester, Thomas; Cambresy, Laurent; Evans, Tracey E.; Fowler, John W.; Gizis, John E.; Howard, Elizabeth V.; Huchra, John P.; Jarrett, Thomas H.; Kopan, Eugene L.; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Light, Robert M.; Marsh, Kenneth A.; McCallon, Howard L.; Schneider, Stephen E.; Stiening, Rae; Sykes, Matthew J.; Weinberg, Martin D.; Wheaton, William A.; Wheelock, Sherry L.; Zacarias, N. (2003). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: 2MASS All-Sky Catalog of Point Sources (Cutri+ 2003)". CDS/ADC Collection of Electronic Catalogues. 2246: II/246. Bibcode:2003yCat.2246....0C.
  2. 1 2 3 Bonanos, A. Z.; Massa, D. L.; Sewilo, M.; Lennon, D. J.; Panagia, N.; Smith, L. J.; Meixner, M.; Babler, B. L.; Bracker, S.; Meade, M. R.; Gordon, K. D.; Hora, J. L.; Indebetouw, R.; Whitney, B. A. (2009). "Spitzer SAGE Infrared Photometry of Massive Stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud". The Astronomical Journal. 138 (4): 1003–1021. arXiv: 0905.1328 . Bibcode:2009AJ....138.1003B. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/138/4/1003. S2CID   14056495.
  3. 1 2 3 Dufton, P. L.; Dunstall, P. R.; Evans, C. J.; Brott, I.; Cantiello, M.; De Koter, A.; De Mink, S. E.; Fraser, M.; Hénault-Brunet, V.; Howarth, I. D.; Langer, N.; Lennon, D. J.; Markova, N.; Sana, H.; Taylor, W. D. (2011). "The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey: The Fastest Rotating O-type Star and Shortest Period LMC Pulsar—Remnants of a Supernova Disrupted Binary?". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 743 (1): L22. arXiv: 1111.0157 . Bibcode:2011ApJ...743L..22D. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/743/1/L22. S2CID   118448435.
  4. 1 2 Shepard, Katherine (January 2020). "HST/COS Spectra of the Wind Lines of VFTS 102 and 285". The Astrophysical Journal. 888 (2): 82. arXiv: 1911.09675 . Bibcode:2020ApJ...888...82S. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab5a82 . S2CID   208202016.
  5. ↑ Jiang, Dengkai; Han, Zhanwen; Yang, Liheng; Li, Lifang (2013). "The binary merger channel for the progenitor of the fastest rotating O-type star VFTS 102". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 428 (2): 1218. arXiv: 1302.6296 . Bibcode:2013MNRAS.428.1218J. doi: 10.1093/mnras/sts105 . S2CID   118856665.
  6. ↑ Sander, A.; Hamann, W.-R.; Todt, H. (April 2012). "The Galactic WC stars. Stellar parameters from spectral analyses indicate a new evolutionary sequence". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 540: A144. arXiv: 1201.6354 . Bibcode:2012A&A...540A.144S. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201117830. ISSN   0004-6361. S2CID   119182468.
  7. ↑ Cantiello, M.; Yoon, S.-C.; Langer, N.; Livio, M. (2007). "Binary star progenitors of long gamma-ray bursts". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 465 (2): L29. arXiv: astro-ph/0702540 . Bibcode:2007A&A...465L..29C. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20077115. S2CID   118921504.
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