VX Sagittarii is an extreme asymptotic giant branch star located more than 1.5 kiloparsec away from the Sun in the constellation of Sagittarius. It is a pulsating variable star with an unusually large magnitude range. It is also one of the largest stars discovered so far, with a radius varying between 1,350 and 1,940 solar radii (940,000,000 and 1.35×109km; 6.3 and 9.0au). It is the most luminous known AGB star, at bolometric magnitude –8.6, which is even brighter than the theoretical limit at –8.0.[3]
Extreme asymptotic giant branch star in the constellation Sagittarius
VX Sagittarii
VX Sagittarii, circled
Observation data Epoch J2000.0Equinox J2000.0 (ICRS)
A visual band light curve for VXSagittarii, plotted from AAVSO data[9]
The star is classed as a cool semiregular variable of type SRc with a pulsational period of 732 days. The variations sometimes have an amplitude comparable to a long period variable, at other times they are much smaller. The spectral type varies between M4e around visual maximum and M9.8e at minimum light, and the luminosity class is Ia indicating a bright supergiant. The spectrum shows emission lines indicating that the star is losing mass through a strong stellar wind.[7]
The annual parallax of VX Sagittarii has been measured extremely accurately using VLBI and found to be 0.64±0.06mas, indicating a distance of about 5,100 light years. This is compatible with the distance to Sagittarius OB1, the stellar association that VX Sagittarii is thought to belong to. Its radial velocity and proper motions are also consistent with other members of the association.[5]
Stellar characteristics
The effective temperature of VX Sagittarii is apparently highly variable from around 2,400K at visual minimum to around 3,300K near maximum. Such low temperatures are comparable to the very coolest AGB stars and unprecedented for a massive supergiant.[6][7] Its atmosphere is highly extended, irregular, and variable during the pulsations of the star, but the bolometric luminosity varies much less than the visual brightness and is calculated to be about 195,000L☉. At an effective temperature of 3,300K, the radius is expected to be somewhere between 1,120R☉ and 1,550R☉.[5] Older studies frequently calculated higher luminosities.[10][11]
The atmosphere of VX Sgr shows molecular water layers and SiO masers in the atmosphere, typical of an OH/IR star.[12] The masers have been used to derive an accurate distance of 1,590 parsecs.[13] The spectrum also indicates strong VO and CN. In many respects the atmosphere is similar to low mass AGB stars such as Mira variables, but a supergiant luminosity and size.[6]
More recent papers state that VX Sagittarii is a massive AGB star, rather than a red supergiant or hypergiant. Because it displays Rubidium in its spectrum and has a high mass loss and luminosity, it is possible that it is a type of AGB star known as a Super-AGB star, a type of star with masses in between low-mass stars and high-mass stars.[3]
Samus, N. N.; Durlevich, O. V.; etal. (2009). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/GCVS. Originally Published in: 2009yCat....102025S. 1. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.
Tabernero, H. M.; Dorda, R.; Negueruela, I.; Marfil, E. (2021). "The nature of VX Sagitarii". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 646: A98. arXiv:2011.09184. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202039236. S2CID227013580.
Xu, Shuangjing; Zhang, Bo; Reid, Mark J; Menten, Karl M; Zheng, Xingwu; Wang, Guangli (2018). "The Parallax of the Red Hypergiant VX Sgr with Accurate Tropospheric Delay Calibration". The Astrophysical Journal. 859 (1): 14. arXiv:1804.00894. Bibcode:2018ApJ...859...14X. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aabba6. S2CID55572194.
García-Hernández, D. A; García-Lario, P; Plez, B; Manchado, A; d'Antona, F; Lub, J; Habing, H (2007). "Lithium and zirconium abundances in massive Galactic O-rich AGB stars". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 462 (2): 711. arXiv:astro-ph/0609106. Bibcode:2007A&A...462..711G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20065785. S2CID16016698.
"Download Data". aavso.org. AAVSO. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
De Jager, C.; Nieuwenhuijzen, H.; Van Der Hucht, K. A. (1988). "Mass loss rates in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram". Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series. 72: 259. Bibcode:1988A&AS...72..259D.
Chen, X.; Shen, Z. Q.; Xu, Y. (2007). "Measuring the Distance of VX Sagittarii with SiO Maser Proper Motions". Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 7 (4): 531. Bibcode:2007ChJAA...7..531C. doi:10.1088/1009-9271/7/4/09.
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