No Arabic abstract
A previous spectroscopic study identified the very massive O2 III star VFTS 16 in the Tarantula Nebula as a runaway star based on its peculiar line-of-sight velocity. We use the Gaia DR2 catalog to measure the relative proper motion of VFTS 16 and nearby bright stars to test if this star might have been ejected from the central cluster, R136, via dynamical ejection. We find that the position angle and magnitude of the relative proper motion (0.338 +/- 0.046 mas/yr, or approximately 80 +- 11 km/s) of VFTS 16 are consistent with ejection from R136 approximately 1.5 +/- 0.2 Myr ago, very soon after the cluster was formed. There is some tension with the presumed age of VFTS 16 that, from published stellar parameters, cannot be greater than 0.9 +0.3/-0.2 Myr. Older ages for this star would appear to be prohibited due to the absence of He I lines in its optical spectrum, since this sets a firm lower limit on its effective temperature. The dynamical constraints may imply an unusual evolutionary history for this object, perhaps indicating it is a merger product. Gaia DR2 also confirms that another very massive star in the Tarantula Nebula, VFTS 72 (alias BI253; O2 III-V(n)((f*)), is also a runaway on the basis of its proper motion as measured by Gaia. While its tangential proper motion (0.392 +/-0.062 mas/yr or 93 +/-15 km/s) would be consistent with dynamical ejection from R136 approximately 1 Myr ago, its position angle is discrepant with this direction at the 2$sigma$ level. From their Gaia DR2 proper motions we conclude that the two ~100 solar mass O2 stars, VFTS 16 and VFTS72, are fast runaway stars, with space velocities of around 100 km/s relative to R136 and the local massive star population. The dynamics of VFTS16 are consistent with it having been ejected from R136, and this star therefore sets a robust lower limit on the age of the central cluster of ~1.3 Myr.
In this paper, we report the discovery of a new late-B type unbound hyper-runaway star (LAMOST-HVS4) from the LAMOST spectroscopic surveys. According to its atmospheric parameters, it is either a B-type main sequence (MS) star or a blue horizontal branch (BHB) star. Its Galactocentric distance and velocity are 30.3 +/- 1.6 kpc and 586 +/- 7 km/s if it is an MS star, and they are 13.2 +/- 3.7 kpc and 590 +/- 7 km/s if a BHB star. We track its trajectories back, and find that the trajectories intersect with the Galactic disk and the Galactic center lies outside of the intersection region at the 3 sigma confidence level. We investigate a number of mechanisms that could be responsible for the ejection of the star, and find that it is probably ejected from the Galactic disk by supernova explosion or multiple-body interactions in dense young stellar clusters.
Aims: We analyze the available information on the star BD+43 3654 to investigate the possibility that it may have had its origin in the massive OB association Cygnus OB2. Methods: We present new spectroscopic observations allowing a reliable spectral classification of the star, and discuss existing MSX observations of its associated bow shock and astrometric information not previously studied. Results: Our observations reveal that BD+43 3654 is a very early and luminous star of spectral type O4If, with an estimated mass of (70 +/- 15) solar masses and an age of about 1.6 Myr. The high spatial resolution of the MSX observations allows us to determine its direction of motion in the plane of the sky by means of the symmetry axis of the well-defined bow shock, which matches well the orientation expected from the proper motion. Tracing back its path across the sky we find that BD+43 3654 was located near the central, densest region of Cygnus OB2 at a time in the past similar to its estimated age. Conclusions: BD+43 3654 turns out to be one of the three most massive runaway stars known, and it most likely formed in the central region of Cygnus OB2. A runaway formation mechanism by means of dynamical ejection is consistent with our results.
How very massive stars form is still an open question in astrophysics. VFTS682 is among the most massive stars known, with an inferred initial mass of $sim$150 $M_odot$ . It is located in 30 Doradus at a projected distance of 29 pc from the central cluster R136. Its apparent isolation led to two hypotheses: either it formed in relative isolation or it was ejected dynamically from the cluster. We investigate the kinematics of VFTS682 as obtained by Gaia and Hubble Space Telescope astrometry. We derive a projected velocity relative to the cluster of $38 pm 17 mathrm{km s^{-1}}$ (1$sigma$ confidence interval). Although the error bars are substantial, two independent measures suggest that VFTS682 is a runaway ejected from the central cluster. This hypothesis is further supported by a variety of circumstantial clues. The central cluster is known to harbor other stars more massive than 150 $M_odot$ of similar spectral type and recent astrometric studies on VFTS16 and VFTS72 provide direct evidence that the cluster can eject some of its most massive members, in agreement with theoretical predictions. If future data confirm the runaway nature, this would make VFTS682 the most massive runaway star known to date.
We present the first ultraviolet (UV) and multi-epoch optical spectroscopy of 30 Dor 016, a massive O2-type star on the periphery of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The UV data were obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope as part of the Servicing Mission Observatory Verification program after Servicing Mission 4, and reveal #016 to have one of the fastest stellar winds known. From analysis of the CIV 1548-51 doublet we find a terminal velocity, v_infty=3450 +/- 50km/s. Optical spectroscopy is from the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey, from which we rule out a massive companion (with 2d<P<1yr) to a confidence of 98%. The radial velocity of #016 is offset from the systemic value by -85km/s, suggesting that the star has traveled the 120pc from the core of 30 Doradus as a runaway, ejected via dynamical interactions.
We analyzed high angular resolution 45.5 GHz images of the W49 North massive star forming region obtained in 1998 and 2016 with the Very Large Array. Most of the ultracompact HII regions show no detectable changes over the time interval of the observations. However, subcomponents B1, B2, G2a and G2c have increased its peak flux densities by values in the range of 3.8 to 21.4 %. Most interestingly, the cometary region C clearly shows proper motions that at the distance of the region are equivalent to a velocity of 76$pm$6 km s$^{-1}$ in the plane of the sky. We interpret this region as the ionized bowshock produced by a runaway O6 ZAMS star that was ejected from the eastern edge of Welchs ring about 6,400 years ago.