Speckle observations of R136a

Details Speckle observations of R136a Speckle observations of R136a

Jul 1982

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1982mnras.200p...1m&link_type=abstract

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 200, July 1982, p. 1P-5P. Research supported by the Science and Enginee

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

27

Diameters, Speckle Patterns, Star Clusters, Supermassive Stars, Autocorrelation, Companion Stars, Hot Stars, Near Ultraviolet Radiation, Stellar Luminosity, Surface Temperature

Scientific paper

Reference is made to the recent suggestion that R136a is a single supermassive star (2,500 solar masses) with a surface temperature of 60,000 K. It is noted that the speckle observations made with the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian telescope have put an upper limit of approximately 0.02 arcsec to its diameter and possibly just resolve it as a disk of approximately 0.02 arcsec (about 0.005 pc). Consideration is given to three possibilities. The first is that it could be an unusually compact group of extremely hot stars. For instance, 30 O3 stars could be contained within a volume having a diameter of less than approximately 0.1 pc (less than approximately 0.5 arcsec at a distance of 55,000 pc). It is noted, however, that this is inconsistent with the optical spectrum and that the variability of the visible emission could not originate within a group of stars. The second possibility is that R136a could be a single superluminous star with a mass of 2500 solar masses and a radius of 100 solar radii. The third possibility is that R136a could be at some state of its protostellar collapse into a single massive object.

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