Discovery of a new Galactic bona fide luminous blue variable with Spitzer.
Abstract
We report the discovery of a circular mid-infrared shell around the emission-line star Wray 16-137 using archival data of the Spitzer Space Telescope. Follow-up optical spectroscopy of Wray 16-137 with the Southern African Large Telescope revealed a rich emission spectrum typical of the classical luminous blue variables (LBVs) like P Cygni. Subsequent spectroscopic and photometric observations showed drastic changes in the spectrum and brightness during the last three years, meaning that Wray 16-137 currently undergoes an S Dor-like outburst. Namely, we found that the star has brightened by ≈1 mag in the V and Ic bands, while its spectrum became dominated by Fe II lines. Taken together, our observations unambiguously show that Wray 16-137 is a new member of the family of Galactic bona fide LBVs.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnrasl/slu141
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1408.6232
- Bibcode:
- 2014MNRAS.445L..84G
- Keywords:
-
- line: identification;
- circumstellar matter;
- stars: emission-line;
- Be;
- stars: evolution;
- stars: individual: Wray 16-137;
- stars: massive;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters