FS Canis Majoris

FS Canis Majoris
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0 (ICRS)
Constellation Canis Major
Right ascension 06h 28m 17.42193s[1]
Declination −13° 03 11.1351[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 8.50[1]
Characteristics
Spectral type Bpshe[1]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)21.6 ± 2[1] km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: −8.77[1] mas/yr
Dec.: 3.42[1] mas/yr
Parallax (π)3.59 ± 0.94[1] mas
Distanceapprox. 900 ly
(approx. 280 pc)
Other designations
FS CMa, BD−12 1500, HD 45677, HIP 30800, PPM 217230, SAO 151534.[1]
Database references
SIMBADdata

FS Canis Majoris (FS CMa), also known as HD 45677 or MWC 142, is a B-type star in the constellation of Canis Major.[1] It has an apparent visual magnitude of approximately 8.50,[1] having varied between magnitudes 7.35 and 8.58.[2] Feinstein and colleagues reported in 1976 that it had decreased by 0.9 magnitude between 1969 and 1976, whereas it had only varied by 0.3 magnitude in the 70 years beforehand. Sometimes it could vary by up to 0.5 magnitude in a year or 0.1 magnitude in a night, and there did not appear to be any regular period to its variability.[3]

Astronomer Anatoly Miroshnichenko has made it the prototype of a new type of variable star, FS Canis Majoris stars. These are hot blue-white stars that exhibit forbidden line emission and strong infra-red excess suggestive of very young (pre-main-sequence) stars yet they do not lie in star-forming regions. Nor did they appear to be stars that had evolved off the main sequence into giant or supergiant stars. It is now thought that they are main sequence stars that have absorbed or are absorbing matter, most likely from a companion star, and are surrounded by a compact dusty shell.[4] These stars are thought to be significant contributors to interstellar dust.[4]

Its spectral type has been previously classified as B2III to B2V and its bolometric magnitude as -4.89.[5] However, investigation of its spectrum in 2006 showed that FS Canis Majoris is a binary system.[6] The system is between 1250 and 8000 times as luminous as the Sun.[4] One calculation has the masses of the primary and secondary at 9.3±0.5 and 4.8±0.9 solar masses and radii 6.6±0.5 and 2.9±0.6 times that of the Sun, and surface temperatures of 21,600±350 and 16,380±1670 K respectively.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 HD 45677 - Be Star, database entry, SIMBAD. Accessed online March 22, 2014.
  2. Otero, Sebastian Alberto (15 February 2014). "FS Canis Majoris". AAVSO Website. American Association of Variable Star Observers. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  3. Feinstein, A.; Garnier, R.; Vogt, N.; Swings, J.P.; Heck, A.; Manfroid, J. (1976). "Astronomy and Astrophysics" 51 (2): 269–73. Bibcode:1976A&A....51..269F.
  4. 1 2 3 Miroshnichenko, Anatoly S. (2007). "Toward Understanding the B[e] Phenomenon. I. Definition of the Galactic FS CMa Stars". The Astrophysical Journal 667 (1): 497–504. Bibcode:2007ApJ...667..497M. doi:10.1086/520798.
  5. 1 2 Cidale, L.; Zorec, J.; Tringaniello, L. (2001). "BCD spectrophotometry of stars with the B[e] phenomenon. I. Fundamental parameters". Astronomy and Astrophysics 368: 160–74. Bibcode:2001A&A...368..160C. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20000409.
  6. Baines, Deborah; Oudmaijer, René D.; Porter, John M.; Pozzo, Monica (2006). "On the binarity of Herbig Ae/Be stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 367 (2): 737–53. arXiv:astro-ph/0512534. Bibcode:2006MNRAS.367..737B. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10006.x.
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