A close look at the heart of Luminous Blue Variables nebulae
Abstract
Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) are a class of evolved massive stars which undergo a short but violent transition from the main sequence toward the Wolf-Rayet stage. During their evolution, LBVs lose a huge quantity of mass from their original envelope, leading to the formation of extended circumstellar nebulae. There are still many open questions about the LBV mass-loss phenomenon, including the origin and the mechanism of mass-loss episodes, and the formation and shaping of the resulting nebulae, which quite often exhibit a bipolar morphology. We propose ATCA observations in 4 cm and 7 mm bands of two galactic LBVs in order to obtain unprecedented high angular resolution and high sensitivity images of the inner nebulae enclosing their stellar object. The ATCA images will detect and resolve the faint shells that have been ejected from the central stars. These data will help to understand the mechanisms that lead to the asymmetrical shapes and the differences between the gas and dust distributions observed in these objects. By examining the structure of the shells, we can learn about the recent mass-loss history of these rapidly evolving objects.
- Publication:
-
ATNF Proposal
- Pub Date:
- April 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014atnf.prop.6066B
- Keywords:
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- late stages of stellar evolution (excluding pulsars and supernovae);
- ATCA