Melnick 34

BAT99-116

200px Photograph of Melnick 34 taken by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Observation data Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0
Constellation	Dorado
Right ascension	5h 38m 44.26s
Declination	−69° 06′ 05.88″
Apparent magnitude (V)	13.09
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage	Wolf–Rayet star
Spectral type	WN5h:a
B−V color index	+0.25
Astrometry
Distance	163,000 ly (49,970 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)	-7.9
Details
Mass	179 M☉
Radius	20 R☉
Luminosity	7,079,000 L☉
Temperature	53,000 K
Age	~1.7 Myr
Other designations
BAT99 116, [HSH95] 8, Melnick 34, 2MASS J05384424-6906058, Brey 84
Database references
SIMBAD	data

BAT99-116 (commonly called Melnick 34 or Mk34) is a massive luminous Wolf–Rayet star near R136 in the 30 Doradus complex (also known as the Tarantula Nebula) in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Physical characteristics

NGC 2070 region. MK 34 is the bright isolated star to the left of the R136 cluster in the righthand panel.

Mk34 is a Wolf–Rayet star with surface temperature over 50,000 K . It is estimated that at its birth the star was around 275 M_☉. It has a powerful stellar wind and despite its young age it has already shed a large fraction of its initial mass. However, due to high x-ray luminosity and some radial velocity variations, it is expected that Mk34 has a hot luminous companion, so estimates of its temperature, luminosity, and mass are highly uncertain.

Evolution

Mk34 is currently burning hydrogen in its core, although it shows strong helium and nitrogen emission due to convection of fusion products from the core to the surface. It is expected that it will evolve quickly to a hydrogen-free Wolf-Rayet star, possibly with a short time as a blue hypergiant and luminous blue variable. It will then shed more and more of its outer layers, ultimately becoming a WO star close to 200,000 K before collapsing, producing a type Ic supernova and leaving behind a black hole.

External links

• ESA/Hubble image