An energetic stellar outburst accompanied by circumstellar light echoes

Howard E. Bond (), Arne Henden, Zoltan G. Levay, Nino Panagia, William B. Sparks, Sumner Starrfield, R. Mark Wagner, R. L. M. Corradi and U. Munari
Additional contact information
Howard E. Bond: Space Telescope Science Institute
Arne Henden: Universities Space Research Association & US Naval Observatory, Flagstaff Station
Zoltan G. Levay: Space Telescope Science Institute
Nino Panagia: Space Telescope Science Institute
William B. Sparks: Space Telescope Science Institute
Sumner Starrfield: Arizona State University
R. Mark Wagner: University of Arizona
R. L. M. Corradi: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes
U. Munari: INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova

Nature, 2003, vol. 422, issue 6930, 405-408

Abstract: Abstract Some classes of stars, including novae and supernovae, undergo explosive outbursts that eject stellar material into space. In 2002, the previously unknown variable star V838 Monocerotis brightened suddenly by a factor of ∼104. Unlike a supernova or nova, it did not explosively eject its outer layers; rather, it simply expanded to become a cool supergiant with a moderate-velocity stellar wind. Superluminal light echoes were discovered1,2 as light from the outburst propagated into the surrounding, pre-existing circumstellar dust. Here we report high-resolution imaging and polarimetry of those light echoes, which allow us to set direct geometric distance limits to the object. At a distance of >6 kpc, V838 Mon at its maximum brightness was temporarily the brightest star in the Milky Way. The presence of the circumstellar dust implies that previous eruptions have occurred, and spectra show it to be a binary system. When combined with the high luminosity and unusual outburst behaviour, these characteristics indicate that V838 Mon represents a hitherto unknown type of stellar outburst, for which we have no completely satisfactory physical explanation.

Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01508 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:422:y:2003:i:6930:d:10.1038_nature01508

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature01508

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().