The stellar content of the Quintuplet cluster
Abstract
The properties of several extraordinary individual stars are discussed, including the five Quintuplet-proper members (QPMs), and the Luminous Blue Variable candidate (LBVc). We suggest that the QPMs may be dusty Wolf-Rayet carbon stars. The LBVc has a very high luminosity, 10{6.2-6.8} Lodot, for its rather cool temperature, 18 kK, placing it well in violation of the Humphreys-Davidson limit. We argue that the LBVc had an eruption which ejected the gas now seen in the surrounding ``Pistol'' HII region. The cluster stars are used to infer the following approximate cluster properties: an age of several million years, a mass of 10 Modot, a luminosity of 10{7.2} Lodot, and a Lyman continuum flux of 1049.9 s-1. We discuss a global picture which integrates the Quintuplet with the prominent radio structures and the mid-IR/radio ring.
- Publication:
-
The Central Regions of the Galaxy and Galaxies
- Pub Date:
- 1998
- Bibcode:
- 1998IAUS..184...61F