RT Carinae

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RT Carinae

RT Carinae is the bright orange star south of the Trumpler 15 cluster.
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0
Constellation Carina
Right ascension 10h 44m 47.148s[1]
Declination −59° 24′ 48.1228″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 8.36[2] (8.2 - 9.9[3])
Characteristics
Spectral type M2+ Iab[4]
B−V color index +2.31[2]
Variable type LC[3]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)−21.95±0.58[1] km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: −7.432 mas/yr[1]
Dec.: 2.851 mas/yr[1]
Parallax (π)0.438 ± 0.027 mas[5]
Distance6,990+401
−333 ly
(2,144+123
−102 pc)[5]
Absolute magnitude (MV)−6.74[2]
Details[2]
Radius1,090 R☉
Luminosity (bolometric)129,000[6] L☉
Surface gravity (log g)−0.3 cgs
Temperature3,625 K
Other designations
RT Car, HD 303310, HIP 52562, SAO 238424, CD−58°3538, AAVSO 1040-58
Database references
SIMBADdata

RT Carinae, also known as CD-58 3538, is a red supergiant and a variable star, located 7,000 light years away in the constellation Carina. It is in the Carina Nebula. The average apparent magnitude of +8.55, too faint to be visible to the naked eye.

Characteristics[edit]

RT Carinae is a red supergiant with a spectral type of M2+ Iab[4] and has a temperature of 3,660 K.[2] With a diameter 1,090 times that of the Sun, it is one of the largest stars known.[2] It is estimated to be 130,000 times more luminous than the Sun.[6] It is close to the open cluster Trumpler 15, but is not thought to be a member.[7] It appears to be surrounded by a dusty nebula, possibly material ejected from the star itself.[8]

A visual band light curve for RT Carinae, plotted from ASAS data[9]

It is catalogued as an irregular variable star, but a number of possible pulsation periods have been detected. Analysis from observations over 40 years give variations with periods of 201 and 448 days, with other studies suggesting periods of 100 and 1,400 days.[10]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Vallenari, A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (2023). "Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 674: A1. arXiv:2208.00211. Bibcode:2023A&A...674A...1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202243940. S2CID 244398875. Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Levesque, Emily M.; Massey, Philip; Olsen, K. A. G.; Plez, Bertrand; Josselin, Eric; Maeder, Andre; Meynet, Georges (2005). "The Effective Temperature Scale of Galactic Red Supergiants: Cool, but Not As Cool As We Thought". The Astrophysical Journal. 628 (2): 973. arXiv:astro-ph/0504337. Bibcode:2005ApJ...628..973L. doi:10.1086/430901.
  3. ^ a b Samus, N. N.; Durlevich, O. V.; et al. (2009). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/GCVS. Originally Published in: 2009yCat....102025S. 1. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.
  4. ^ a b Keenan, P.; McNeil, R. (October 1989). "The Perkins catalog of revised MK types for the cooler stars". Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 71: 245–266. Bibcode:1989ApJS...71..245K. doi:10.1086/191373. S2CID 123149047.
  5. ^ a b Bailer-Jones, C. A. L.; Rybizki, J.; Fouesneau, M.; Demleitner, M.; Andrae, R. (2021-03-01). "Estimating distances from parallaxes. V: Geometric and photogeometric distances to 1.47 billion stars in Gaia Early Data Release 3". The Astronomical Journal. 161 (3): 147. arXiv:2012.05220. Bibcode:2021AJ....161..147B. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/abd806. ISSN 0004-6256. Data about this star can be seen here.
  6. ^ a b Davies, Ben; Beasor, Emma R. (March 2020). "The 'red supergiant problem': the upper luminosity boundary of Type II supernova progenitors". MNRAS. 493 (1): 468–476. arXiv:2001.06020. Bibcode:2020MNRAS.493..468D. doi:10.1093/mnras/staa174. S2CID 210714093.
  7. ^ Smith, Nathan (2006). "A census of the Carina Nebula - I. Cumulative energy input from massive stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 367 (2): 763–772. arXiv:astro-ph/0601060. Bibcode:2006MNRAS.367..763S. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10007.x. S2CID 14060690.
  8. ^ Forte, J. C.; Marraco, H. G. (1986). "RT Carinae; a late type supergiant within an elongated dusty nebula". Astrophysical Letters. 25: 39. Bibcode:1986ApL....25...39F.
  9. ^ "ASAS All Star Catalogue". The All Sky Automated Survey. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  10. ^ Kiss, L. L.; Szabó, Gy. M.; Bedding, T. R. (2006). "Variability in red supergiant stars: Pulsations, long secondary periods and convection noise". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 372 (4): 1721–1734. arXiv:astro-ph/0608438. Bibcode:2006MNRAS.372.1721K. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10973.x. S2CID 5203133.
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