Melnick 34

BAT99-116 (commonly called Melnick 34 or Mk34) is a binary Wolf–Rayet star near R136 in the 30 Doradus complex (also known as the Tarantula Nebula) in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Both parts are amongst the most massive and luminous stars known. It has a spectral type of WN5h and the most massive binary system with x-ray luminosity. Because of such a high mass, they are expected to only have a few million years of life and become a black hole.

BAT99-116
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0
Constellation Dorado
Right ascension 5h 38m 44.26s[1]
Declination −69° 06′ 05.88″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V) 13.09[1]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage Wolf–Rayet star
Spectral type WN5h + WN5h[2]
B−V color index +0.25[1]
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)287±5[2] km/s
Distance163,000 ly
(49,970[3] pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)-7.42[2]
Orbit[2]
Period (P)154.55±0.05 d
Eccentricity (e)0.68±0.02
Inclination (i)~50°
Periastron epoch (T)57671.2±0.9 JD
Argument of periastron (ω)
(secondary)
20.9±3.8°
Semi-amplitude (K1)
(primary)
130±7 km/s
Semi-amplitude (K2)
(secondary)
141±6 km/s
Details
A
Mass148[4] M
Radius19.3±2.8[2] R
Luminosity2,042,000[4] L
Temperature53,000±1,200[2] K
Age0.5±0.3[2] Myr
B
Mass135[4] M
Radius18.2±2.7[2] R
Luminosity1,585,000[4] L
Temperature53,000±1,200[2] K
Age0.6±0.3[2] Myr
Other designations
BAT99 116, [HSH95] 8, Melnick 34, 2MASS J05384424-6906058, Brey 84
Database references
SIMBADdata

Melnick 34 Media

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Doran, E. I.; Crowther, P. A.; de Koter, A.; Evans, C. J.; McEvoy, C.; Walborn, N. R.; Bastian, N.; Bestenlehner, J. M.; Grafener, G.; Herrero, A.; Kohler, K.; Maiz Apellaniz, J.; Najarro, F.; Puls, J.; Sana, H.; Schneider, F. R. N.; Taylor, W. D.; van Loon, J. Th.; Vink, J. S. (2013). "The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey - XI. A census of the hot luminous stars and their feedback in 30 Doradus". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 558: 134. arXiv:1308.3412. Bibcode:2013A&A...558A.134D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321824. S2CID 118510909.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Tehrani, Katie A.; Crowther, Paul A.; Bestenlehner, Joachim M.; Littlefair, Stuart P.; Pollock, A M T.; Parker, Richard J.; Schnurr, Olivier (2019). "Weighing Melnick 34: The most massive binary system known". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 484 (2): 2692–2710. arXiv:1901.04769. Bibcode:2019MNRAS.484.2692T. doi:10.1093/mnras/stz147.
  3. Pietrzyński, G; D. Graczyk; W. Gieren; I. B. Thompson; B. Pilecki; A. Udalski; I. Soszyński; et al. (7 March 2013). "An eclipsing-binary distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud accurate to two per cent". Nature. 495 (7439): 76–79. arXiv:1303.2063. Bibcode:2013Natur.495...76P. doi:10.1038/nature11878. PMID 23467166. S2CID 4417699.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Shenar, T.; Sablowski, D. P.; Hainich, R.; Todt, H.; Moffat, A. F. J.; Oskinova, L. M.; Ramachandran, V.; Sana, H.; Sander, A. A. C.; Schnurr, O.; St-Louis, N.; Vanbeveren, D.; Götberg, Y.; Hamann, W.-R. (2019). "The Wolf–Rayet binaries of the nitrogen sequence in the Large Magellanic Cloud". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 627: A151. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201935684. S2CID 162183986.