Issue |
A&A
Volume 552, April 2013
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | L6 | |
Number of page(s) | 4 | |
Section | Letters | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201321380 | |
Published online | 29 March 2013 |
A massive parsec-scale dust ring nebula around the yellow hypergiant Hen 3-1379
1
Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de
Liège,
Allée du 6 août 17, B5c,
4000
Liège,
Belgium
e-mail:
hutsemekers@astro.ulg.ac.be
2
Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan
200D, 3001
Leuven,
Belgium
Received: 28 February 2013
Accepted: 15 March 2013
On the basis of far-infrared images obtained by the Herschel Space Observatory, we report the discovery of a large and massive dust shell around the yellow hypergiant Hen 3-1379. The nebula appears as a detached ring of 1 pc diameter which contains 0.17 M⊙ of dust. We estimate the total gas mass to be 7 M⊙, ejected some 1.6 × 104 years ago. The ring nebula is very similar to nebulae found around luminous blue variables (LBVs) except it is not photoionized. We argued that Hen 3-1379 is in a pre-LBV stage, providing direct evidence that massive LBV ring nebulae can be ejected during the red supergiant phase.
Key words: stars: massive / circumstellar matter / stars: mass-loss / stars: individual: Hen 3-1379
© ESO, 2013
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