Star in the constellation Vulpecula
BW Vulpeculae or BW Vul , is a variable star in the northern constellation of Vulpecula . It is near the lower limit of visibility to the naked eye with a typical apparent visual magnitude of 6.54.[ 3] Based on an annual parallax shift of 1.15 mas ,[ 2] the distance to BW Vul is about 2,800 light years . It is moving closer to the Earth with a baseline heliocentric radial velocity of around −6 km/s.[ 8]
This is a B-type giant star with a stellar classification of B2 IIIv,[ 5] where the 'v' suffix indicates variability in spectral features. Various authors have printed mass estimates ranging from 11 to 14 times the mass of the Sun ,[ 11] although Tetzlaff et al. (2011) gives a mass of just 6.8 M ☉ .[ 10] It is about 3.4[ 10] million years old and is spinning with a projected rotational velocity of 24 km/s.[ 3] The star is typically radiating 515[ 6] times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 23,014 K.[ 12]
The variability of this star was announced in 1937, at the 58th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society by Canadian astronomer, Robert Methven Petrie .[ 14] It is a Beta Cephei variable that ranges between magnitudes 6.44 and 6.68 over a period of 4.8 hours.[ 4] For unknown reasons, the periodicity of the star has undergone sudden changes, followed by long periods of stability.[ 15] BW Vul is one of the most extreme β Cephei stars in terms of variability of light and radial velocity.[ 3] [ 16] This is hypothesized as being due to the star's relatively high metallicity , meaning the abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium.[ 11] A distinctive feature of its radial velocity cycle is a unique "standstill" feature, which is caused by a shockwave generated by infall of material from a previous cycle.[ 16]
References
^ "MAST: Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes" . Space Telescope Science Institute. Retrieved 8 December 2021 .
^ a b c d e f Brown, A. G. A. ; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (August 2018). "Gaia Data Release 2: Summary of the contents and survey properties" . Astronomy & Astrophysics . 616 . A1. arXiv :1804.09365 . Bibcode :2018A&A...616A...1G . doi :10.1051/0004-6361/201833051 .
^ a b c d e Stankov, A.; et al. (September 2003). "Abundances and radial velocity analysis of BW Vulpeculae" . Astronomy and Astrophysics . 408 (3): 1077– 1086. Bibcode :2003A&A...408.1077S . doi :10.1051/0004-6361:20031005 .
^ a b Otero, Sebastian Alberto (21 November 2011). "BW Vulpeculae" . AAVSO Website . American Association of Variable Star Observers . Retrieved 2 August 2015 .
^ a b Lynds, C. R. (September 1959). "The light-variability of early B giants" . Astrophysical Journal . 130 : 577. Bibcode :1959ApJ...130..577L . doi :10.1086/146747 .
^ a b c Anderson, E.; Francis, Ch. (2012). "XHIP: An extended hipparcos compilation". Astronomy Letters . 38 (5): 331. arXiv :1108.4971 . Bibcode :2012AstL...38..331A . doi :10.1134/S1063773712050015 . S2CID 119257644 .
^ Samus', N. N; Kazarovets, E. V; Durlevich, O. V; Kireeva, N. N; Pastukhova, E. N (2017). "General catalogue of variable stars: Version GCVS 5.1". Astronomy Reports . 61 (1): 80. Bibcode :2017ARep...61...80S . doi :10.1134/S1063772917010085 . S2CID 125853869 .
^ a b Gontcharov, G. A. (November 2006). "Pulkovo Compilation of Radial Velocities for 35 495 Hipparcos stars in a common system". Astronomy Letters . 32 (11): 759– 771. arXiv :1606.08053 . Bibcode :2006AstL...32..759G . doi :10.1134/S1063773706110065 . S2CID 119231169 .
^ Gontcharov, G. A. (November 2012). "Spatial distribution and kinematics of OB stars". Astronomy Letters . 38 (11): 694– 706. arXiv :1606.09028 . Bibcode :2012AstL...38..694G . doi :10.1134/S1063773712110035 . S2CID 119108982 .
^ a b c d Tetzlaff, N.; et al. (January 2011). "A catalogue of young runaway Hipparcos stars within 3 kpc from the Sun" . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 410 (1): 190– 200. arXiv :1007.4883 . Bibcode :2011MNRAS.410..190T . doi :10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17434.x . S2CID 118629873 .
^ a b c Fokin, A.; et al. (November 2004). "Hydrodynamic models for β Cephei variables. I. BW Vulpeculae revisited" . Astronomy and Astrophysics . 426 (2): 687– 693. Bibcode :2004A&A...426..687F . doi :10.1051/0004-6361:20040418 .
^ a b c d Niemczura, E.; Daszyńska-Daszkiewicz, J. (April 2005). "Metallicities of the β Cephei stars from low-resolution ultraviolet spectra". Astronomy and Astrophysics . 433 (2): 659– 669. arXiv :astro-ph/0410440 . Bibcode :2005A&A...433..659N . doi :10.1051/0004-6361:20040396 . S2CID 14295631 . . Note: value taken from [m/H].
^ "BW Vul" . SIMBAD . Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg . Retrieved September 7, 2018 .
^ Petrie, R. M. (1939). "A new Beta Canis Majoris-type star". Publications of the American Astronomical Society . 9 : 53. Bibcode :1939PAAS....9Q..53P .
^ Odell, A. P. (August 2012). "Period variation in BW Vulpeculae redux". Astronomy & Astrophysics . 544 : 4. arXiv :1205.5996 . Bibcode :2012A&A...544A..28O . doi :10.1051/0004-6361/201219418 . S2CID 119279687 . A28.
^ a b Smith, Myron A.; et al. (December 2005). "Far-Ultraviolet and Optical Observations of BW Vulpeculae" . The Astrophysical Journal . 634 (2): 1300– 1310. Bibcode :2005ApJ...634.1300S . doi :10.1086/497026 .