Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 | |
---|---|
Constellation | Cygnus |
Right ascension | 20h 17m 47.2020s [1] |
Declination | +38° 01′ 58.549″ [1] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 4.82 [2] (3 to 6 [3] ) |
Characteristics | |
Spectral type | B1-2 Ia-0ep [4] (B1 Iapeq [3] ) |
U−B color index | −0.58 [5] |
B−V color index | +0.42 [5] |
Variable type | LBV [3] |
Astrometry | |
Radial velocity (Rv) | −8.9 [6] km/s |
Proper motion (μ) | RA: −3.723 [1] mas/yr Dec.: −6.798 [1] mas/yr |
Parallax (π) | 0.6251 ± 0.0729 mas [1] |
Distance | 1,610±180 [7] pc |
Absolute magnitude (MV) | −7.9 [8] |
Details | |
Mass | 37 [9] M☉ |
Radius | 76 [10] R☉ |
Luminosity | 610,000 [10] L☉ |
Surface gravity (log g) | 2.25 [9] cgs |
Temperature | 18,700 [10] K |
Metallicity | 0.29 [10] He/H |
Rotational velocity (v sin i) | 35 [11] km/s |
Other designations | |
Nova Cyg 1600, 34 Cyg, JP11 3218, TD1 26474, GSC 03151-03442, TYC 3151-3442-1, AG+37° 1953, 2MASS J20174719+3801585, ALS 11097, HD 193237, MCW 849, BD+37°3871, Hen 3-1871, PLX 4837, CEL 5017, PPM 84645, P Cyg, RAFGL 5493S, GC 28218, HIP 100044, ROT 2959, GCRV 12673, HR 7763, SAO 69773, AAVSO 2014+37A | |
Database references | |
SIMBAD | data |
P Cygni (34 Cygni) is a variable star in the constellation Cygnus. The designation "P" was originally assigned by Johann Bayer in Uranometria as a nova. Located about 5,300 light-years (1,560 parsecs) from Earth, it is a hypergiant luminous blue variable (LBV) star of spectral type B1-2 Ia-0ep that is one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way.
The star is located about 5,000 to 6,000 light-years (1,500–1,800 parsecs) from Earth. Despite this vast distance, it is visible to the naked eye in suitable dark sky locations. It was unknown until the end of the 16th century, when it suddenly brightened to 3rd magnitude. It was first observed on 18 August (Gregorian) 1600 by Willem Janszoon Blaeu, a Dutch astronomer, mathematician and globe-maker. Bayer's atlas of 1603 assigned it the miscellaneous label P and the name has stuck ever since. [12] After six years the star faded slowly, dropping below naked-eye visibility in 1626. It brightened again in 1655, but had faded by 1662. Another outburst took place in 1665; this was followed by numerous fluctuations. Since 1715 P Cygni has been a fifth magnitude star, with only minor fluctuations in brightness. Today it has a magnitude of 4.8, irregularly variable by a few hundredths of a magnitude on a scale of days. [13] The visual brightness is increasing by about 0.15 magnitude per century, attributed to a slow decrease in temperature at constant luminosity. [14]
P Cygni has been called a "permanent nova" because of spectral similarities and the obvious outflow of material, and was once treated with novae as an eruptive variable; however, its behaviour is no longer thought to involve the same processes associated with true novae. [15]
P Cygni is widely considered to be the earliest known example of a luminous blue variable. However, it is far from a typical example. Typically, LBVs change in brightness with a period of years to decades, occasionally hosting outbursts where the brightness of the star increases dramatically. P Cygni has been largely unvarying both in brightness and spectrum since a series of large outbursts in the 17th century. Similar events have been seen in Eta Carinae and possibly a handful of extra-galactic objects. [18]
P Cygni does show evidence for previous large eruptions around 900, 2,100, and possibly 20,000 years ago. In more recent centuries, it has been very slowly increasing in visual magnitude and decreasing in temperature, which has been interpreted as the expected evolutionary trend of a massive star towards a red supergiant stage. [18]
Luminous blue variables like P Cygni are very rare and short lived, and only form in regions of galaxies where intense star formation is happening. LBV stars are so massive and energetic (typically 50 times the mass of the Sun and tens of thousands of times more luminous) that they exhaust their nuclear fuel very quickly. After shining for only a few million years (compared to several billion years for the Sun) they erupt in a supernova. The recent supernova SN 2006gy was likely the end of an LBV star similar to P Cygni but located in a distant galaxy. [19] P Cygni is thought to be in the hydrogen shell burning phase immediately after leaving the main sequence. [18]
It has been identified as a possible type IIb supernova candidate in modelling of the fate of stars 20 to 25 times the mass of the Sun (with LBV status as the predicted final stage beforehand). [20]
P Cygni gives its name to a type of spectroscopic feature called a P Cygni profile, where the presence of both absorption and emission in the profile of the same spectral line indicates the existence of a gaseous envelope expanding away from the star. The emission line arises from a dense stellar wind near to the star, while the blueshifted absorption lobe is created where the radiation passes through circumstellar material rapidly expanding in the direction of the observer. These profiles are useful in the study of stellar winds in many types of stars. They are often cited as an indicator of a luminous blue variable star, although they also occur in other types of star. [18] [21]
In P Cygni itself, the size of the stellar wind H-alpha emission region is 5.64±0.21 milli-arcseconds. [13] At the distance of 1,600 parsecs this is a physical size of approximately 25 stellar radii.
It has been proposed P Cygni's eruptions could be caused by mass transfer to a hypothetical companion star of spectral type B that would have a mass between 3 and 6 times the mass of the Sun and would orbit P Cygni each 7 years in a high eccentricity orbit. Infall of matter into the secondary star would produce the release of gravitational energy, part of which would cause an increase of the luminosity of the system. [22]
Supergiants are among the most massive and most luminous stars. Supergiant stars occupy the top region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram with absolute visual magnitudes between about −3 and −8. The temperature range of supergiant stars spans from about 3,400 K to over 20,000 K.
Zeta Puppis, formally named Naos, is a star in the constellation of Puppis.
S Doradus is one of the brightest stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located roughly 160,000 light-years away. The star is a luminous blue variable, and one of the most luminous stars known, having a luminosity varying widely above and below 1,000,000 times the luminosity of the Sun, although it is too far away to be seen with the naked eye.
Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are massive evolved stars that show unpredictable and sometimes dramatic variations in their spectra and brightness. They are also known as S Doradus variables after S Doradus, one of the brightest stars of the Large Magellanic Cloud. They are extraordinarily rare, with just 20 objects listed in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars as SDor, and a number of these are no longer considered LBVs.
Alpha Cygni variables are variable stars which exhibit non-radial pulsations, meaning that some portions of the stellar surface are contracting at the same time other parts expand. They are supergiant stars of spectral types B or A. Variations in brightness on the order of 0.1 magnitudes are associated with the pulsations, which often seem irregular, due to beating of multiple pulsation periods. The pulsations typically have periods of several days to several weeks.
V509 Cassiopeiae is one of two yellow hypergiant stars found in the constellation Cassiopeia, which also contains Rho Cassiopeiae.
Cygnus OB2 #12 is an extremely luminous blue hypergiant with an absolute bolometric magnitude of −10.9, among the most luminous stars known in the galaxy. This makes the star nearly two million times more luminous than the Sun, although estimates were even higher when the star was first discovered. It is now known to be a binary, with the companion approximately a tenth as bright. A very approximate initial estimate of the orbit gives the total system mass as 120 M☉ and the period as 30 years.
HR Carinae is a luminous blue variable star located in the constellation Carina. It is surrounded by a vast nebula of ejected nuclear-processed material because this star has a multiple shell expanding atmosphere. This star is among the most luminous stars in the Milky Way. It has very broad emission wings on the Balmer lines, reminiscent from the broad lines observed in the spectra of O and Wolf–Rayet stars. A distance of 5 kpc and a bolometric magnitude of -9.4 put HR Car among the most luminous stars of the galaxy.
A hypergiant (luminosity class 0 or Ia+) is a very rare type of star that has an extremely high luminosity, mass, size and mass loss because of its extreme stellar winds. The term hypergiant is defined as luminosity class 0 (zero) in the MKK system. However, this is rarely seen in literature or in published spectral classifications, except for specific well-defined groups such as the yellow hypergiants, RSG (red supergiants), or blue B(e) supergiants with emission spectra. More commonly, hypergiants are classed as Ia-0 or Ia+, but red supergiants are rarely assigned these spectral classifications. Astronomers are interested in these stars because they relate to understanding stellar evolution, especially star formation, stability, and their expected demise as supernovae.
Zeta1 Scorpii is a B-type hypergiant star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has an apparent visual magnitude which varies between 4.66 and 4.86. It is a member of the Scorpius OB1 association, and the open star cluster NGC 6231, also known as the "Northern jewel box" cluster. Around 36 times as massive as the Sun, it is also one of the most luminous stars known in the Galaxy, with an estimated bolometric luminosity of around 850,000 times that of the Sun and a radius 103 times that of the Sun.
HD 168607 is a blue hypergiant and luminous blue variable (LBV) star located in the constellation of Sagittarius, easy to see with amateur telescopes. It forms a pair with HD 168625, also a blue hypergiant and possible luminous blue variable, that can be seen at the south-east of M17, the Omega Nebula.
55 Cygni is a blue supergiant star in the constellation Cygnus. It is thought to be a member of the Cygnus OB7 stellar association at about 2,700 light years.
WR 148 is a spectroscopic binary in the constellation Cygnus. The primary star is a Wolf–Rayet star and one of the most luminous stars known. The secondary has been suspected of being a stellar-mass black hole but may be a class O main sequence star.
HD 160529 is a luminous blue variable (LBV) star located in the constellation of Scorpius. With an apparent magnitude of around +6.8 cannot be seen with the naked eye except under very favourable conditions, but it is easy to see with binoculars or amateur telescopes.
V1429 Aquilae is a candidate luminous blue variable multiple star system located in the constellation of Aquila. It is often referred to by its Mount Wilson Observatory catalog number as MWC 314. It is a hot luminous star with strong emission lines in its spectrum.
R99 is a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud in the constellation Dorado. It is classified as a possible luminous blue variable and is one of the most luminous stars known.
HDE 316285 is a blue supergiant star in the constellation Sagittarius. It is a candidate luminous blue variable and lies about 6,000 light years away in the direction of the galactic centre.
WR 31a, commonly referred to as Hen 3-519, is a Wolf–Rayet (WR) star in the southern constellation of Carina that is surrounded by an expanding Wolf–Rayet nebula. It is not a classical old stripped-envelope WR star, but a young massive star which still has some hydrogen left in its atmosphere.
RW Cygni is a semiregular variable star in the constellation Cygnus, about a degree east of 2nd magnitude γ Cygni. Its apparent magnitude varies between 8.05 and 9.70 and its spectral type between M3 and M4.
R71 is a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in the constellation Mensa. It is classified as a luminous blue variable and is one of the most luminous stars in the LMC. It lies three arc-minutes southwest of the naked-eye star β Mensae.