HD 50064

HD 50064
Observation data
Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation Monoceros[1]
Right ascension 06h 51m 34.106s[1]
Declination +00° 17′ 50.44″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 8.21[1]
Characteristics
Spectral type B6Ia[1]
Details
Luminosity1,260,000 L☉
Temperature13,500 K
Other designations
HD 50064, BD +00°1651, MWC 536[1]

HD 50064 is a blue hypergiant and Be[2] star located in the constellation of Monoceros easy to see with small telescopes.

Characteristics

While it appears quite close to the open cluster NGC 2301 it's not a member of this cluster, appearing close to it due to perspective effects and being actually much farther away.[2] HD 50064 has been relatively little studied, having received spectral types of B6, B9, and B1,[2] with the most recent work giving a distance for this star of at least 2900 parsecs (9,500 light years), a luminosity of approximately 1,260,000 times that of the Sun -placing it among the brightest stars of the Milky Way-, a radius 200 times that of the Sun, and a mass 45 times larguer than the Sun.[3] It shows pulsations with a period of 37 days and its spectrum is very similar to the ones of Luminous blue variables with moderate mass loss what suggests it's a Luminous blue variable caught pulsating and creating a circumstellar shell.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "HD 50064". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Halbedel, Elaine M. (January 1990). "Photometry of HD 50064 - A Be supergiant star with a P Cygni profile at H-alpha". Astronomical Society of the Pacific 102: 99–101.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Aerts, C.; Lefever, K.; Baglin, A.; Degroote, P.; Oreiro, R.; Vučković, M.; Smolders, K.; Acke, B.; Verhoelst, T.; Desmet, M.; Godart, M.; Noels, A.; Dupret, M.-A.; Auvergne, M.; Baudin, F.; Catala, C.; Michel, E.; Samadi, R. (April 2010). "Periodic mass-loss episodes due to an oscillation mode with variable amplitude in the hot supergiant HD 50064". Astronomy and Astrophysics 513: L11. arXiv:1003.5551. Bibcode:2010A&A...513L..11A. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201014124.