Authors
Nathan Smith, Jennifer E Andrews, Maxwell Moe, Peter Milne, Christopher Bilinski, Charles D Kilpatrick, Wen-Fai Fong, Carles Badenes, Alexei V Filippenko, Mansi Kasliwal, Jeffrey M Silverman
Publication date
2020/3
Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume
492
Issue
4
Pages
5897-5915
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Description
MCA-1B (also called UIT003) is a luminous hot star in the western outskirts of M33, classified over 20 yr ago with a spectral type of Ofpe/WN9 and identified then as a candidate luminous blue variable (LBV). Palomar Transient Factory data reveal that this star brightened in 2010, with a light curve resembling that of the classic LBV star AF And in M31. Other Ofpe/WN9 stars have erupted as LBVs, but MCA-1B was unusual because it remained hot. It showed a WN-type spectrum throughout its eruption, whereas LBVs usually get much cooler. MCA-1B showed an almost four-fold increase in bolometric luminosity and a doubling of its radius, but its temperature stayed ≳29 kK. As it faded, it shifted to even hotter temperatures, exhibiting a WN7/WN8-type spectrum, and doubling its wind speed. MCA-1B is reminiscent of some supernova impostors, and its location resembles the isolated environment of SN 2009ip. It is …
Total citations
20202021202220232762
Scholar articles
N Smith, JE Andrews, M Moe, P Milne, C Bilinski… - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2020