WR 104
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Star WR 104 |
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| False-colored infrared image of the Wolf-Rayet star WR 104 from the WM Keck observatory | |||
| AladinLite | |||
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Observation dates equinox : J2000.0 , epoch : J2000.0 |
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| Constellation | Sagittarius | ||
| Right ascension | 18 h 02 m 4.07 s | ||
| declination | -23 ° 37 ′ 41.2 ″ | ||
| Apparent brightness | 13.54 mag | ||
| Typing | |||
| Spectral class | WCv + | ||
| Astrometry | |||
| distance | 8,000 ly 2,400 pc |
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| Physical Properties | |||
| Dimensions | 25 M ☉ | ||
| radius | 3 R ☉ | ||
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Other names and catalog entries |
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WR 104 is a Wolf-Rayet star that was discovered in 1998. It is about 8,000 light years away from Earth . This star is a binary star system with a class OB companion. Both stars orbit each other within 220 days and the influence of their solar winds creates a spiral pattern with an extension of around 200 AU .
description
The material of the spiral is dust that would not normally form due to the intense radiation emanating from WR 104, but is made possible by the presence of its companion star, since in the regions where the solar winds of the two massive stars collide, the Matter is compressed enough to form dust, with the rotation of the system forming the recognizable spiral pattern.
Some optical measurements indicated that the rotation axis of WR 104 points to about 16 ° in the direction of the earth. In the event of an expected hypernova of this star, this would have consequences for the Earth, since jets often emanate from their rotational poles in such explosions . One of these consequences might even be a gamma-ray flash , although it is currently not possible to predict this event with certainty. However, more recent spectroscopic data indicate that the star's axis of rotation is more like 30–40 ° from Earth.
Web links
- WR 104: A nearby gamma-ray burst? on blogs.discovermagazine.com (English)
- SIMBAD WR104 on simbad.u-strasbg.fr (English)
- The prototype colliding-wind pinwheel WR 104 . arxiv : 0712.2111v1
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b SIMBAD astronomical database . In: SIMBAD . Center de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg . Retrieved March 15, 2013.
- ^ Peter Tuthill: WR 104: The prototype Pinwheel Nebula . University of Sydney . Retrieved March 15, 2013.
- ^ A b Peter Tuthill: The Twisted Tale of Wolf-Rayet 104 - First of the Pinwheel Nebulae . University of Sydney . Retrieved March 15, 2013.
- ↑ Peter G. Tuthill, John D. Monnier, Nicholas Lawrance, William C. Danchi, Stan P. Owocki, Kenneth G. Gayley: The Prototype Colliding-Wind Pinwheel WR 104 . In: The Astrophysical Journal . 675, March 1, 2008, pp. 698-710. arxiv : 0712.2111 . bibcode : 2008ApJ ... 675..698T . doi : 10.1086 / 527286 .
- ↑ Discovery News August 4, 2009 (English); last accessed on March 13, 2013.
- ↑ Universe Today January 7, 2009 (English); last accessed on March 13, 2013.