WR 102c
Wolf-Rayet star
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WR 102c is a Wolf–Rayet star located in the constellation Sagittarius towards the galactic centre. It is only a few parsecs from the Quintuplet Cluster, within the Sickle Nebula.
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Region around the Quintuplet Cluster. Full size image is annotated to show WR 102c. Credit: NASA/ESA, Hubble | |
| Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 | |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Sagittarius[1] |
| Right ascension | 17h 46m 11.14s[2] |
| Declination | +28° 4905.9′[2] |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | WN6[3] |
| Apparent magnitude (K) | 11.6[2] |
| Details[3] | |
| Luminosity | 320,000-500,000 L☉ |
| Temperature | 65,000-75,000 K |
| Age | 4 - 6 Myr |
| Other designations | |
| WR 102c, qF 353E | |
| Database references | |
| SIMBAD | data |
Features
According to recent estimations, WR 102c is as much as 500,000 times brighter than the Sun. An initial study reporting a much higher luminosity mistakenly used photometry from a nearby star.[4][5] It would have formed as a 40 M☉ O-type main-sequence star a few million years ago and has since spent a period as a red supergiant before losing its outer layers completely. It is now almost hydrogen-free and nearing the end of its life. It will collapse within the next few hundred thousand years as it runs out of fuel in its core, producing a type Ib or Ic supernova or collapsing directly into a black hole.
WR 102c is surrounded by a shell of nebulosity which contains dust made even hotter than the star itself by intense radiation. The nebula also includes nearly 1 M☉ of molecular hydrogen and around 10 M☉ of ionised hydrogen, all expelled from the star.[5]
There is a suggestion that WR 102c may be a binary star. A nearby corkscrew-shaped jet of nebulosity could have been expelled during the orbital motion. which would imply a period of 800 - 1,400 days.[4] It is surrounded by a small cluster of stars around 1,000 M☉ in total, separate from the much more massive Quintuplet Cluster.[3]