WR 102c
Quintuplet Cluster . Full size image is annotated to show WR 102c.Credit: NASA/ESA, Hubble | |
| Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 | |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Right ascension | 17h 46m 11.14s[1] |
| Declination | +28° 4905.9′[1] |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | WN6[2] |
| Apparent magnitude (K) | 11.6[1] |
| Details Myr | |
WR 102c, qF 353E | |
| Database references | |
| SIMBAD | data |
WR 102c is a
Features
According to recent estimations, WR 102c is as much as 500,000 times brighter than the Sun. An initial study reporting a much higher luminosity mistakenly used photometry from a nearby star.[3][4] It would have formed as a 40 M☉ O-type main-sequence star a few million years ago and has since spent a period as a red supergiant before losing its outer layers completely. It is now almost hydrogen-free and nearing the end of its life. It will collapse within the next few hundred thousand years as it runs out of fuel in its core, producing a type Ib or Ic supernova or collapsing directly into a black hole.
WR 102c is surrounded by a shell of nebulosity which contains dust made even hotter than the star itself by intense radiation. The nebula also includes nearly 1 M☉ of molecular hydrogen and around 10 M☉ of ionised hydrogen, all expelled from the star.[4]
There is a suggestion that WR 102c may be a binary star. A nearby corkscrew-shaped jet of nebulosity could have been expelled during the orbital motion. which would imply a period of 800 - 1,400 days.[3] It is surrounded by a small cluster of stars around 1,000 M☉ in total, separate from the much more massive Quintuplet Cluster.[2]
