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Variable mass loss on 100 yr timescales from massive yellow hypergiants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2024

René D. Oudmaijer Open the ORCID record for René D. Oudmaijer [Opens in a new window]  and
Evgenia Koumpia
René D. Oudmaijer*
Affiliation:
School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, LS2 9JT Leeds, UK
Evgenia Koumpia
Affiliation:
ESO Vitacura, Alonso de Córdova 3107 Vitacura, Casilla 19001 Santiago de Chile, Chile
*
email: R.D.Oudmaijer@leeds.ac.uk
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Abstract

This contribution presents new results on two members of the class of post-Red Supergiants, IRAS 17163-3907, the central star of the Fried Egg nebula and IRC +10420. New optical spectra in the blue spectral range confirm their spectral type to be of A-supergiant class. Our VLTI/GRAVITY K-band interferometry reveals that the neutral Na i 2.2 μm line emitting region is smaller than that of the hydrogen Brγ emission. This can be explained with the hydrogen emission the result of collisional excitation populating the higher levels in a neutral region instead them being populated through recombination in an ionised environment as mostly inferred in stellar winds. Finally, the central star of the Fried Egg nebula, has undergone 3 distinct mass loss episodes over the last hundreds of years. As it is likely that at least the last mass loss event occurred when the star was already a Yellow Hypergiant and not a Red Supergiant, we put forward the bi-stability mechanism as explanation for the mass loss.

Keywords

stars: evolutionstars: mass-lossstars: AGB and post-AGBstars: individual: IRAS 17163-3907IRC+10420circumstellar matter
Type
Contributed Paper
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 18 , Symposium S361: Massive Stars Near and Far , May 2022 , pp. 397 - 403
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union

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