Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T14:57:21.467Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Turbulent, steamy red supergiant winds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2007

A. M. S. Richards
Affiliation:
JBO, University of Manchester, SK11 9DL, UK. a.m.s.richards@manchester.ac.uk
I. Bains
Affiliation:
Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia.
A. Bartkiewicz
Affiliation:
Centre for Astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland.
R. J. Cohen
Affiliation:
JBO, University of Manchester, SK11 9DL, UK. a.m.s.richards@manchester.ac.uk
P. J. Diamond
Affiliation:
JBO, University of Manchester, SK11 9DL, UK. a.m.s.richards@manchester.ac.uk
S. Etoka
Affiliation:
JBO, University of Manchester, SK11 9DL, UK. a.m.s.richards@manchester.ac.uk
M. D. Gray
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, University of Manchester, PO Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD, UK.
E. E. Lekht
Affiliation:
INAOE, Apdo Postal 51 y 216, 72840 Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico.
M. R. W. Masheder
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Bristol University, Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK.
E. Mendoza-Torres
Affiliation:
INAOE, Apdo Postal 51 y 216, 72840 Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico.
K. Murakawa
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hugel 69, G-53121, Bonn, Germany.
M. Szymczak
Affiliation:
Centre for Astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland.
H. J. van Langevelde
Affiliation:
JIVE, Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands. Sterrewacht Leiden, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
W. Vlemmings
Affiliation:
JBO, University of Manchester, SK11 9DL, UK. a.m.s.richards@manchester.ac.uk
J. A. Yates
Affiliation:
UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Rapidly-evolving red supergiants (RSG) lose half or more of their mass before ending their lives as supernovae. Masers allow us to study the mass loss from 4 nearby RSG in AU-scale detail using MERLIN and EVN/global VLBI. The water maser clouds are over-dense and over-magnetised with respect to the surrounding wind. In most cases, the brighter an individual maser component is the smaller its apparent (beamed) FWHM appears, as predicted for approximately spherical clouds. Individual water maser features have a typical half-life of 5-10 yr, but comparison with single dish monitoring suggests that the water vapour clouds themselves survive many decades (the water maser shell crossing time), within which the local masers wink on and off. OH mainline masers are found in the tenuous surrounding gas, overlapping the water maser shell, surrounded by OH 1612-MHz masers at a greater distance from the star.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2008

References

Bains, I., Cohen, R. J., Louridas, A., Richards, A. M. S., Rosa-González, D., & Yates, J. A. 2003, MNRAS, 342, 8Google Scholar
Etoka, S., & Diamond, P. 2004, MNRAS, 348, 34Google Scholar
Elitzur, M. 1992, Astronomical Masers, KluwerGoogle Scholar
Freytag, B., Steffen, M., & Dorch, B. 2002, AN, 323, 213Google Scholar
Lekht, E. E., Rudnitskij, G. M., Mendoza-Torres, J. E., & Tolmachev, A. M. 2005, A&A, 437, 127Google Scholar
Mouschovias, T. C., & Ciolek, G. E. 1999, in: Lada, C. J. & Kylafis, N. D. (eds.), The Origin of Stars and Planetary Systems, NATO ASIC Proc. 540, 305Google Scholar
Monnier, J. D., Geballe, T. R., & Danchi, W. C. 1999, ApJ, 521, 261Google Scholar
Murakawa, K., Yates, J. A., Richards, A. M. S., & Cohen, R. J. 2003, MNRAS, 344, 1Google Scholar
Richards, A. M. S., Yates, J. A., & Cohen, R. J. 1996, MNRAS, 282, 665Google Scholar
Richards, A. M. S., Yates, J. A., & Cohen, R. J. 1998, MNRAS, 299, 319Google Scholar
Richards, A. M. S., Yates, J. A., & Cohen, R. J. 1999, MNRAS, 306, 954Google Scholar
van der Veen, W. E. C. J. & Habing, H. J. 1988, A&A, 184, 125Google Scholar
Vlemmings, W. H. T., Diamond, P. J., & van Langevelde, H. J. 2002, A&A, 394, 589Google Scholar
Vlemmings, W. H. T., van Langevelde, H. J., & Diamond, P. J. 2005, A&A 434, 1029Google Scholar