Related papers: Multiple Major Outbursts from a Restless Luminous …
We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of two luminous blue variable (LBV) stars in two extremely metal-deficient blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies, DDO 68 with 12+logO/H = 7.15 and PHL 293B with 12+logO/H = 7.72. These two…
We present a comprehensive analysis of 20 years worth of multi-color photometric light curves, multi-epoch optical spectra, and X-ray data of an off-nuclear variable object SDSS1133 in Mrk 177 at $z=0.0079$. The UV-optical light curves…
Context. Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are rare massive stars with very high luminosity. They are characterized by strong photo-metric and spectroscopic variability related to transient eruptions. The mechanisms at the origin of these…
AT 2000ch is a highly variable massive star and supernova imposter in NGC 3432 first detected in 2000. It is similar and often compared to SN 2009ip, and it is therefore expected to undergo a core-collapse supernova -- a SN imposter of…
An increasing number of non-terminal eruptions are being found in the numerous surveys for optical transients. Very little is known about these giant eruptions, their progenitors and their evolutionary state. A greatly improved census of…
We have found three new LBV candidates in the star-forming galaxy NGC 4736. They show typical well-known LBV spectra, broad and strong hydrogen lines, He I lines, many Fe II lines, and forbidden [Fe II] and [Fe III]. Using archival Hubble…
We study the kinematics of luminous blue variables (LBVs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Using high-resolution spectra, we measure the systemic radial velocities for a sample of 16 LBVs and LBV candidates. In order to measure the net…
We present the first photometric analysis of the supernova (SN) impostor AT 2016blu in NGC 4559. This transient was discovered by the Lick Observatory Supernova Search in 2012 and has continued its outbursts since then. Optical and infrared…
We report on the discovery of a luminous blue variable (LBV) lying ~7 pc in projection from the Quintuplet cluster. This source, which we call LBV G0.120-0.048, was selected for spectroscopy owing to its detection as a strong source of…
(Abridged) Stars more massive than $20-30M_{\odot}$ are so luminous that the radiation force on the cooler, more opaque outer layers can balance or exceed the force of gravity. These near or super-Eddington outer envelopes represent a long…
CONTEXT: The RAVE spectroscopic survey for galactic structure and evolution obtains 8400-8800 Ang spectra at 7500 resolving power at the UK Schmidt Telescope using the 6dF multi-fiber positioner. More than 300,000 9<I<12 and |b|>25 deg…
We investigate a suspected very massive star in one of the most metal-poor dwarf galaxies, PHL~293B. Excitingly, we find the sudden disappearance of the stellar signatures from our 2019 spectra, in particular the broad H lines with P~Cygni…
We present spectroscopy and discuss the photometric history of a previously obscure star in M31. The spectrum of the star is an extremely close match to that of P Cygni, one of the archetypes of Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs). The star has…
A quantitative study of the Luminous Blue Variable NGC 2363-V1 in the Magellanic galaxy NGC 2366 (D = 3.44 Mpc) is presented, based on ultraviolet and optical HST/STIS spectroscopy. Contemporary WFPC2 and WHT imaging reveals a modest V-band…
Over the past 40 years, the massive LBV/WR system HD 5980 in the Small Magellanic Cloud has undergone a long-term S Doradus type variability cycle and two brief and violent eruptions in 1993 and 1994. In this paper we analyze a collection…
Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are enigmatic, evolved, massive stars. Their variability has been observed to be episodic with large eruptions, along with variations on time-scales of days to decades. We have extracted light curves of 37…
We present results of a long-term spectroscopic monitoring program (since mid 2009) of Luminous Blue Variables with the new HERMES echelle spectrograph on the 1.2 m Mercator telescope at La Palma (Spain). We investigate high-resolution…
Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are massive stars with extreme luminosities, exhibiting significant irregular photometric and spectroscopic variability. This paper is dedicated to the study of dormant LBV Var$\,$2 in the galaxy M33, which…
If a massive star has lost significant mass during its red-supergiant stage, it would return to blue region in the HR diagram and spend a part of the core-He burning stage as a blue supergiant having a luminosity to mass ratio (L/M)…
The observed giant outbursts of Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) may occur when these massive stars approach their Eddington limits. When this happens, they must reach a point where the centrifugal force and the radiative acceleration cancel…