With the help of the Very Large Telescope, European astronomers managed to capture the complex environment around the star HD 50138. This information is able to provide data on the evolutionary status of the object.
HD 50138 is 1100 light-years distant from us. Refers to the stars of Herbig spectral type B8. About 7 times larger and 6 times more massive than the Sun. It reaches 1000 solar luminosities and is considered one of the brightest Be stars in the southern sky.
The evolutionary status of the object is still a mystery. Some believe that this is the star of the preliminary main sequence, while others think that the star will soon come out of the main sequence. It is also unclear whether HD 50138 is part of the Orion-Unicorn molecular star complex. The definition of the association would give the exact age of the star.
Spectra, visibility, differential phases and phase of the circuit for each basic observation in HD 50138. The dotted line corresponds to the system line speeds. Flow normalizes to continuum To learn more about the nature of HD 50138, scientists from the Dublin Institute of Advanced Researchers (Ireland) made infrared interferometric observations from the closest circumstellar medium of this object. For this purpose, a very large telescope interferometer with an AMBER beam adder was used.
The analysis showed that the spectrum of HD 50138 shows continual emission, as well as the bright emission lines of bright Breckett-gamma hydrogen and weak high-frequency Pfund. The region of continuous radiation is endowed with a predictable size of 0.6-1.0 a. e. All this points to a complex circumstellar medium HD 50138 and most likely an evolving star in front of us.
