Other
Scientific paper
Jul 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008hst..prop11623k&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #11623. Cycle 17
Other
Scientific paper
Recent discoveries of very luminous supernovae associated with luminous blue variable-type objects {LBV's} raise the interesting possibility that an LBV phase may be the prelude to core collapse. Alternatively, the LBV events may be occuring in binary systems where the LBV phase is reached by one of the stars shortly before its more evolved companion becomes a supernova. The Small Magellanic Cloud binary system HD 5980 is believed to consist precisely of such two objects: a massive hydrogen-poor Wolf-Rayet star in orbit around an even more massive variable star that recently underwent an LBV-type eruption. The wind velocity and the mass-loss rate of the LBV-component have changed remarkably over the past ˜40 years, providing a glimpse of the detailed information of how a binary LBV-type star may shape the circumstellar environment into which the eventual supernova ejecta will collide. One process that is shaping the CSM around HD 5980 is the interaction between the slow wind ejected during eruption and the fast wind that was subsequently ``turned on". In order to model the evolution of this interaction region, an accurate determination of the mass-loss rate and the wind velocity of HD 5980 is required. Because the optical emission lines are contaminated by other sources, only the P Cygni profiles observable in the UV spectral region provide unambiguous values for the current wind speed and mass-loss rate. In this proposal we are requesting 2 HST orbits to observe HD 5980 with STIS in order to obtain one FUV MAMA spectrum from which we will determine the current wind velocity and mass-loss rate of the LBV-type star. These data will also allow a more detailed analysis of the atmospheric structure of the LBV-type object in its quiescent state and, combined with ground-based observations, an analysis of the emission arising in the wind-wind collision region may be performed. Although HD5980 may be unique in our Galactic vicinity, it may be typical of massive star systems formed in low-metallicity regions in distant galaxies and thus, an understanding of HD5980 can provide further insight into the energetic phenomena present in the more distant, low-metallicity star-forming regions.;
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