OBJECT X: THE BRIGHTEST MID-INFRARED POINT SOURCE IN M33
- Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 W. 18th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)
We discuss the nature of the brightest mid-IR point source (which we dub Object X) in the nearby galaxy M33. Although multi-wavelength data on this object have existed in the literature for some time, it had not previously been recognized as the most luminous mid-IR object in M33 because it is entirely unremarkable in both optical and near-IR light. In the Local Group Galaxies Survey, Object X is a faint red source visible in VRI and H{alpha} but not U or B. It was easily seen at JHK{sub s} in the Two Micron All Sky Survey. It is the brightest point source in all four Spitzer IRAC bands and is also visible in the MIPS 24 {mu}m band. Its bolometric luminosity is {approx}5 x 10{sup 5} L{sub sun}. The source is optically variable on short timescales (tens of days) and is also slightly variable in the mid-IR, indicating that it is a star. Archival photographic plates (from 1949 and 1991) show no optical source, so the star has been obscured for at least half a century. Its properties are similar to those of the Galactic OH/IR star IRC+10420, which has a complex dusty circumstellar structure resulting from episodic low-velocity mass ejections. We propose that Object X is an M {approx}> 30 M{sub sun} evolved star obscured in its own dust ejected during episodic mass-loss events over at least {approx}half a century. It may emerge from its current ultra-short evolutionary phase as a hotter post-red-supergiant star analogous to M33 Var A. The existence and rarity of such objects can be an important probe of a very brief yet eventful stellar evolutionary phase.
- OSTI ID:
- 21574642
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 732, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/732/1/43; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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