RY Sagittarii
RY Sagittarii is a yellow supergiant and an R Coronae Borealis type variable star in the constellation Sagittarius. Although it ostensibly has the spectrum of a G-type star, it differs markedly from most in that it has almost no hydrogen and much carbon.
  | |
| Observation data Epoch J2000.0 ICRS Equinox J2000.0 ICRS | |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Right ascension | 19h 16m 32.76748s[1] |
| Declination | −33° 31′ 20.3401″[1] |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 5.8-14.0[2] |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | G0Iaep (C1,0)[2] |
| Variable type | R CrB[2] |
| Astrometry | |
| Radial velocity (Rv) | -22.8[3] km/s |
| Proper motion (μ) | RA: 10.00[1] mas/yr Dec.: −0.32[1] mas/yr |
| Parallax (π) | 1.29 ± 0.82[1] mas |
| Distance | approx. 3,000 ly (approx. 800 pc) |
| Absolute magnitude (MV) | -5[4] |
| Details | |
| Radius | 60[4] R☉ |
| Luminosity | 9,120[4] L☉ |
| Temperature | 7,250[5] K |
| Other designations | |
| Database references | |
| SIMBAD | data |
Discovery
Colonel Ernest Elliott Markwick first came across what became known as RY Sagittarii during searches for variable stars while posted in Gibraltar.[6] He recorded it dimming from magnitude 7 in July 1893 to fainter than 11 by 23 October that year, and brightening to magnitude 6.4 by November 1894.[7] Edward Charles Pickering wrote that it was a "remarkable object",[7] and "nearly got away".[6] The spectrum was first noted to be peculiar at the time,[7] and by 1953 it was classified as a R Coronae Borealis variable, along with a handful of other stars.[8]
Mystified by its origins, Danziger postulated possible explanations as forming from a helium cloud, an aged star that had exhausted its hydrogen, or a star that had somehow thrown off its hydrogen envelope, though noted there was no evidence of such an envelope. He conceded that knowledge of star evolution was not advanced enough to come up with an explanation.[9]
Variability
It is one of the three brightest R Coronae Borealis stars visible to Earth observers, along with R Coronae Borealis and V854 Centauri,[10] and the brightest in the southern hemisphere.[4] It is also a pulsating variable, with a semiregular period of 38 days.[11] Its light curve has been studied for over a hundred years and is typical for the class, characterised by a sudden drop in brightness of several magnitudes over a few weeks before gradually brightening over the following several months. The timing between these dimmings is irregular.[11] The cause of the drop in magnitude is the presence of dust clouds of carbon obscuring (and most likely ejected from) the star, though the mechanism how this might occur is not known.[11][12] Extensive clouds have been detected with ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer.[13]
Properties
The star is so remote that its parallax, distance and hence luminosity were impossible to calculate with any accuracy.[11] The Hipparcos satellite calculated its parallax at 1.29 milliarcseconds,[1] yielding a distance of 1,716.6 light-years (526.32 parsecs) from Earth. Its parallax from the Gaia first data release is much smaller at 0.41 mas, indicating a much larger distance, but still with a margin of error nearly as large as the parallax itself.[14] The actual distance, derived indirectly by comparison with similar stars, is around 2,000 parsecs.[4] Its effective temperature has been calculated at 7,250 K[5] and its size at 60 R☉ based on an assumed luminosity of 9,120 L☉.[4]
References
- van Leeuwen, F. (November 2007). "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 474 (2): 653–664. arXiv:0708.1752. Bibcode:2007A&A...474..653V. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357.
- "V RY Sgr". The International Variable Star Index. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
- Evans, D. S. (1967). "The Revision of the General Catalogue of Radial Velocities". Determination of Radial Velocities and their Applications. 30: 57. Bibcode:1967IAUS...30...57E.
- De Laverny, P.; Mékarnia, D. (2004). "First detection of dust clouds around R CrB variable stars". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 428: L13. arXiv:astro-ph/0411735. Bibcode:2004A&A...428L..13D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200400095.
- Clayton, Geoffrey C.; Geballe, T. R.; Zhang, Wanshu (2013). "Variable Winds and Dust Formation in R Coronae Borealis Stars". The Astronomical Journal. 146 (2): 9. arXiv:1305.5047. Bibcode:2013AJ....146...23C. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/146/2/23. 23.
- Shears, Jeremy (2011). "Ernest Elliott Markwick: Variable stars and military campaigns". The Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 122 (6): 335–48. arXiv:1109.4234. Bibcode:2011arXiv1109.4234S.
- Pickering, E. C. (1896). "Harvard College Observatory, Circular no. 7. Ten New Variable Stars". Astrophysical Journal. 4: 138–42. Bibcode:1896ApJ.....4..138P. doi:10.1086/140256.
- Bidelman, William P. (1953). "The Spectra of Certain Stars whose Atmospheres may BE Deficient in Hydrogen". Astrophysical Journal. 117: 25. Bibcode:1953ApJ...117...25B. doi:10.1086/145665.
- I. J., Danziger (1965). "A high-dispersion spectral study of RY Sagittarii". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 130 (3): 199. Bibcode:1965MNRAS.130..199D. doi:10.1093/mnras/130.3.199.
- Skuljan, L.; Cottrell, P. L. (2002). "Recent declines of RS Telescopii, UW Centauri, and V Coronae Australis". The Observatory. 122: 322–29. Bibcode:2002Obs...122..322S.
- Clayton, G. C. (1996). "The R Coronae Borealis Stars". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 108: 225. Bibcode:1996PASP..108..225C. doi:10.1086/133715.
- Davis, Kate (January 2000). "R Coronae Borealis". Variable Star of the Month. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- de Laverny, Patrick (3 August 2007). "Star Caught Smoking: VLTI Snapshots Dusty Puff Around Variable Star". European Southern Observatory. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
- Gaia Collaboration (2016). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: Gaia DR1 (Gaia Collaboration, 2016)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: I/337. Originally Published in: Astron. Astrophys. 1337. Bibcode:2016yCat.1337....0G.