Related papers: Mass-loss and Recent Spectral Changes in the Yello…
In the summer and fall of 2000 the yellow hypergiant Rho Cassiopeiae dimmed by more than a visual magnitude, while its effective temperature decreased from \~7000 K to below 4000 K over ~200 d. We observed the highest mass-loss rate of ~5 %…
We present an overview of the spectral variability of the peculiar F-type hypergiant Rho Cas, obtained from our long-term monitoring campaigns over the past 8.5 years with four spectrographs in the northern hemisphere. Between 2000 June and…
Between 2000 June and September an exceptional variability phase occurred in the peculiar F-type hypergiant Rho Cas, when the V-brightness dimmed by at least a full magnitude. The star recovered from this deep minimum by 2001 April. It is…
Yellow hypergiants are evolved massive stars that were suggested to be in post-red supergiant stage. Post-red supergiants that evolve back to the blue, hot side of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram can intersect a temperature domain in which…
Massive stars are rare but of paramount importance for their immediate environment and their host galaxies. They lose mass from their birth through strong stellar winds up to their spectacular end of their lives as supernovae. The mass loss…
Massive evolved stars such as red supergiants and hypergiants are potential progenitors of Type II supernovae, and they are known for ejecting substantial amounts of matter, up to half their initial mass, during their final evolutionary…
We report on multi-epoch optical and near-infrared spectroscopy around the first overtone ro-vibrational band of CO in the pulsating yellow hypergiant Rho Cas, one of the most massive stars in the Galaxy and a candidate SN II progenitor. We…
Spectral monitoring of the yellow hypergiant $\rho$ Cas with the by 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory with a spectral resolution of R$\ge$60000 has led to the detection of new features in the kinematic state of its…
High-resolution near-ultraviolet spectra of the yellow hypergiants HR 8752 and rho Cassiopeiae indicate high effective temperatures placing both stars near the T_eff border of the ``yellow evolutionary void''. At present, the temperature of…
Spectroscopic monitoring of the yellow hypergiant $\rho$ Cas revealed a new outburst in 2013, which is obvious from the development of TiO bands in the spectra. Also many atmospheric lines characteristic for a later spectral type appear.…
The yellow hypergiant star V509 Cas is currently undergoing an extreme phase of evolution. Having experienced eruptive mass-loss outbursts in the 20th century, the star's effective temperature reached record high values in the early 2000s.…
Observations of the yellow hypergiant Rho Cas obtained in 2007-2011 in a wide wavelength region with spectral resolution about 60000 have enabled studies of features of its optical spectrum in detail and brought to light previously unknown…
Context. The fate of a massive star during the latest stages of its evolution is highly dependent on its mass-loss rate/geometry and therefore knowing the geometry of the circumstellar material close to the star and its surroundings is…
Blue supergiant stars are known to display photometric and spectroscopic variability that is suggested to be linked to stellar pulsations. Pulsational activity in massive stars strongly depends on the star's evolutionary stage and is…
Massive stars briefly pass through the yellow supergiant (YSG) phase as they evolve redward across the HR diagram and expand into red supergiants (RSGs). Higher-mass stars pass through the YSG phase again as they evolve blueward after…
We present modeling research work of the winds and circumstellar environments of prototypical hot and cool massive stars using advanced radiative transfer (RT) calculations. This research aims at unraveling the detailed physics of various…
gamma Cas has long been famous for its unique hard X-ray characteristics. We report herein on a 53 ks Chandra HETGS observation of this target. An inspection of our spectrum shows that it is quite atypical for a massive star, with…
Massive stars expel large amounts of mass during their late evolutionary phases. We aim to unveil the physical conditions within the warm molecular environments of B[e] supergiants (B[e]SGs) and yellow hypergiants (YHGs), which are known to…
The hypergiant RW Cep is one of the largest stars in our galaxy. The evolution and mass loss of such stars has profound effects on their surrounding regions and the galaxy as a whole. Between 2020 and 2024, RW Cep experienced a historic…
We have used the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Millimeter Array to obtain a map of the J = (1-0) CO emission from the circumstellar shell around HD 179821, a highly evolved G-type star which will probably explode as a supernova in the next…