There鈥檚 a new contender for the title of the Milky Way鈥檚 brightest star.
The star had been discovered previously in the Peony nebula near the galaxy鈥檚 dusty centre. But infrared observations taken from the ground and with NASA鈥檚 Spitzer Space Telescope have pierced the dust to reveal just how bright the star is.
It boasts a wattage of about 3.2 million Suns. That is close to the output of Eta Carinae, the current record holder, which shines with the light of about 4.7 million Suns. However, measuring stellar brightness is not an exact science, and the stars may actually radiate similar amounts of light.
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鈥淎s we get better measurements, these things change around a bit,鈥� says Michelle Thaller at NASA鈥檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, who was not involved in the study.
It鈥檚 possible that the galaxy鈥檚 brightest star has not even been discovered yet. 鈥淭here are probably other stars just as bright if not brighter in our galaxy that remain hidden from view,鈥� says team leader Lidia Oskinova of Potsdam University in Germany.
New stars
Both Eta Carinae and the Peony nebula star are evolved blue giants known as 鈥淲olf-Rayet鈥� stars, which have masses of 100 to 200 Suns. Either could self-destruct as a supernova at any moment.
The Peony nebula star lies about 26,000 light years away and Eta Carinae about 7500 light years away. 鈥淔or all we know, they may have already blown themselves up and we鈥檙e just waiting for the light to get to us to tell us that,鈥� Thaller told 快猫短视频.
For Thaller and other astronomers, knowing which blue giant is the brightest is less important than understanding what role the massive stars play in galactic evolution.
鈥淭hese are real drivers of a galaxy鈥檚 life cycle,鈥� Thaller says. 鈥淲hen these things go off, they will probably kick off a new generation of stars.鈥�
Journal reference: (forthcoming)
