NML Cygni

NML Cygni

H-Alpha light image of Cygnus OB2, the stellar association in which NML Cygni is located
Observation data
Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation Cygnus
Right ascension 20h 46m 25.54s[1]
Declination +40° 06′ 59.4″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 16.60[2]
Characteristics
Spectral type M6I[3]
Apparent magnitude (K) 12.3[4]
B−V color index +2.04[2]
Variable type SR[5]
Astrometry
Proper motion (μ) RA: −1.55[6] mas/yr
Dec.: −4.59[6] mas/yr
Parallax (π)0.620[6] ± 0.047[6] mas
Distance1,610[6] pc
Details
Radius1,183[4] R☉
Luminosity272,000[4] L☉
Temperature3,834[4] K
Age8[6] Myr
Other designations
V1489 Cyg, RAFGL 2650, IRC+40448, 2MASS J20462554+4006594, AAVSO 2042+39
Database references
SIMBADdata

NML Cygni or V1489 Cygni is a red hypergiant[6] and one of the largest stars currently known with a radius about 1,183 times the Sun's, equal to 5.5 astronomical units. Its distance from Earth is estimated to be around 1.6 kpc, about 5,300 light-years.[7]

NML Cygni is a part of the Cygnus OB2 association, one of the closest massive associations to the Sun, spanning nearly 2° on the sky or ∼30 pc in radius at the distance of 1.74±0.2 kpc.[8]

Observational history

NML Cygni was discovered in 1965 by Neugebauer, Martz, and Leighton who described two extremely red luminous stars, their colour being consistent with a black body temperature of 1,000 K.[9] The name NML comes from the names of these three discoverers.[10] The second star was briefly referred to as NML Tauri[11] but is now known as IK Tauri,[12] an M9 Mira variable. NML Cygni has since also been given the designation V1489 Cygni on account of the small semi-regular brightness variations,[13] but is still most commonly referred to as NML Cygni. Its composition began to be revealed with the discovery of OH masers (1612 MHz) in 1968.[14] Molecules like H
2O, SiO, CO, HCN, CS, SO, SO
2, and H
2S have also been detected.[15]

Characteristics

The radius of NML Cygni is about 1,183 solar radii (823,000,000 km; 5.50 AU). If placed at the center of the Solar System, its surface would extend to about the orbit of Jupiter. It contains a volume approximately 1.6 billion times that of the Sun. The bolometric luminosity (Lbol) for NML Cygni is near 3 × 105 L☉. Its bolometric magnitude (Mbol) is around −9.0. It is one of the most luminous cool hypergiants, as well as one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way. It is also a semiregular variable star with a period of around 940 days.[8] NML Cygni lies close to the expected position that a 25 M☉ star would evolve to after eight million years.[6]

NML Cygni is evolved and a number of heavy elements and molecules have been detected in its atmosphere, particularly oxygen, hydroxyl, and water. It is surrounded by dusty material[6][8] and it exhibits a bean-shaped asymmetric nebula that is coincident with the distribution of its H2O vapor masers.[16]

Relative sizes of the planets in the Solar System and several stars, including NML Cygni
1. Mercury < Mars < Venus < Earth
2. Earth < Neptune < Uranus < Saturn < Jupiter
3. Jupiter < Proxima Centauri < Sun < Sirius
4. Sirius < Pollux < Arcturus < Aldebaran
5. Aldebaran < Rigel < Antares < Betelgeuse
6. Betelgeuse < VY Canis Majoris < NML Cygni < UY Scuti.

NML Cygni has an estimated mass loss rate of 2×10−4 M☉ per year,[15] one of the highest known for any star. The annual parallax of NML Cygni is measured to be around 0.62 milliarcseconds.[6] From the observations, it is estimated that NML Cygni has two discrete optically thick envelopes of dust and molecules. The optical depth of the inner shell is found to be 1.9, whereas that of the outer one is 0.33.[17] These dust envelopes are formed due to the strong post-main-sequence wind, which has a velocity 23 km/s.[8]

Because of its position on the outskirts of the massive Cygnus OB2 association, the detectable effects of NML Cygni's radiation on the surrounding dust and gas are limited to the region away from the central hot stars of the association.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Cutri, R. M.; Skrutskie, M. F.; Van Dyk, S.; Beichman, C. A.; Carpenter, J. M.; Chester, T.; Cambresy, L.; Evans, T.; Fowler, J.; Gizis, J.; Howard, E.; Huchra, J.; Jarrett, T.; Kopan, E. L.; Kirkpatrick, J. D.; Light, R. M.; Marsh, K. A.; McCallon, H.; Schneider, S.; Stiening, R.; Sykes, M.; Weinberg, M.; Wheaton, W. A.; Wheelock, S.; Zacarias, N. (2003). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: 2MASS All-Sky Catalog of Point Sources (Cutri+ 2003)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: II/246. Originally published in: 2003yCat.2246....0C. 2246. Bibcode:2003yCat.2246....0C.
  2. 1 2 Johnson, Harold L.; Mendoza v., Eugenio E.; Wisniewski, Weislaw Z. (1965). "Observations of "Infrared Stars."". Astrophysical Journal. 142: 1249. Bibcode:1965ApJ...142.1249J. doi:10.1086/148393.
  3. ↑ Monnier, J. D.; Millan‐Gabet, R.; Tuthill, P. G.; Traub, W. A.; Carleton, N. P.; Coude Du Foresto, V.; Danchi, W. C.; Lacasse, M. G.; Morel, S.; Perrin, G.; Porro, I. L.; Schloerb, F. P.; Townes, C. H. (2004). "High‐Resolution Imaging of Dust Shells by Using Keck Aperture Masking and the IOTA Interferometer". The Astrophysical Journal. 605: 436. arXiv:astro-ph/0401363Freely accessible. Bibcode:2004ApJ...605..436M. doi:10.1086/382218.
  4. 1 2 3 4 De Beck, E.; Decin, L.; De Koter, A.; Justtanont, K.; Verhoelst, T.; Kemper, F.; Menten, K. M. (2010). "Probing the mass-loss history of AGB and red supergiant stars from CO rotational line profiles. II. CO line survey of evolved stars: Derivation of mass-loss rate formulae". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 523: A18. arXiv:1008.1083Freely accessible. Bibcode:2010A&A...523A..18D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200913771.
  5. ↑ Blöcker, T.; Balega, Y.; Hofmann, K.-H.; Weigelt, G. (2001). "Bispectrum speckle interferometry observations and radiative transfer modelling of the red supergiant NML Cyg. Multiple dust-shell structures evidencing previous superwind phases". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 369: 142. arXiv:astro-ph/0102092Freely accessible. Bibcode:2001A&A...369..142B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20010095.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Zhang, B.; Reid, M. J.; Menten, K. M.; Zheng, X. W.; Brunthaler, A. (2012). "The distance and size of the red hypergiant NML Cygni from VLBA and VLA astrometry". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 544: A42. arXiv:1207.1850Freely accessible. Bibcode:2012A&A...544A..42Z. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201219587.
  7. ↑ Schuster, Michael Thomas (2007). Investigating the Circumstellar Environments of the Cool Hypergiants. ProQuest. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-549-32782-0. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Schuster, M. T.; Marengo, M.; Hora, J. L.; Fazio, G. G.; Humphreys, R. M.; Gehrz, R. D.; Hinz, P. M.; Kenworthy, M. A.; Hoffmann, W. F. (2009). "Imaging the Cool Hypergiant NML Cygni's Dusty Circumstellar Envelope with Adaptive Optics". The Astrophysical Journal. 699 (2): 1423. arXiv:0904.4690Freely accessible. Bibcode:2009ApJ...699.1423S. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/699/2/1423.
  9. ↑ Neugebauer, G.; Martz, D. E.; Leighton, R. B. (July 1965). "Observations of Extremely Cool Stars". Astrophysical Journal. 142: 399–401. Bibcode:1965ApJ...142..399N. doi:10.1086/148300.
  10. ↑ Hearnshaw, J. B. (2 May 1996). "New infrared sources and their interpretation". The Measurement of Starlight: Two Centuries of Astronomical Photometry. Cambridge University Press. p. 278. ISBN 978-0-521-40393-1. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  11. ↑ Pesch, P. (1967). "Objective-Prism Spectra of Some Very Red Stars". The Astrophysical Journal. 147: 381. Bibcode:1967ApJ...147..381P. doi:10.1086/149015.
  12. ↑ Kukarkin, B. V.; Efremov, Yu. N.; Frolov, M. S.; Medvedeva, G. I.; et al. (8 November 1968). "Identification List of the New Variable Stars Nominated in 1968". Information Bulletin on Variable Stars. 311 (1): 1. Bibcode:1968IBVS..311....1K.
  13. ↑ Kukarkin, B. V.; Kholopov, P. N.; Kukarkina, N. P. (27 November 1975). "61st Name-List of Variable Stars". Information Bulletin on Variable Stars. 1068 (1): 1. Bibcode:1975IBVS.1068....1K.
  14. ↑ Cohen, R. J.; Downs, G.; Emerson, R.; Grimm, M.; et al. (1 April 1987). "Narrow polarized components in the OH 1612-MHz maser emission from supergiant OH-IR sources". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 225 (3): 491–498. Bibcode:1987MNRAS.225..491C. doi:10.1093/mnras/225.3.491.
  15. 1 2 Kevin Marvel (19 December 1996). "NML Cygni". The Circumstellar Environment of Evolved Stars As Revealed by Studies of Circumstellar Water Masers. Universal-Publishers. pp. 182–212. ISBN 978-1-58112-061-5. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  16. ↑ Schuster, M. T.; Humphreys, R. M.; Marengo, M. (2006). "The Circumstellar Environments of NML Cygni and the Cool Hypergiants". The Astronomical Journal. 131: 603. arXiv:astro-ph/0510010Freely accessible. Bibcode:2006AJ....131..603S. doi:10.1086/498395.
  17. ↑ DanchiI, W. C.; Green, W. H.; Hale, D. D. S.; McEleroy, K.; et al. (July 2001). "Proper Motions of Dust Shells Surrounding NML Cygni". The Astrophysical Journal. 555: 405. Bibcode:2001ApJ...555..405D. doi:10.1086/322237.
Preceded by
VY Canis Majoris		 Largest known star
2012–2013 		Succeeded by
Westerlund 1 BKS AS
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