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Session: Stars, Planets and the Interstellar Medium

Name: Mr. Gonzalo Munoz-Sanchez (National Observatory of Athens / NKUA)
Coauthors: Bonanos Alceste (National Observatory of Athens)
de Wit Stephan (National Observatory of Athens / NKUA)
Boutsia Konstantina (The Carnegie Institution for Science)
Antoniadis Konstantinos (National Observatory of Athens / NKUA)
Type: Poster
Title: A luminous RSG in the LMC with a bow shock?
Abstract:

Episodic mass loss in evolved massive stars is an unresolved question. Specifically, in the Red Supergiant (RSG) phase, important physical processes such as mass loss, the mechanisms behind it, and the role of metallicity remain uncertain. Not understanding these processes has large implications in a variety of fields, from theoretical evolutionary models and stellar population synthesis to building proper RSG models to obtain accurate and reliable physical properties. To shed some light on the discussion, we introduce the community to one of the most luminous and extreme RSGs in the LMC. Through medium-resolution spectroscopy with MagE (Baade telescope, Las Campanas, Chile) we have detected spectral variability in [W60]B90, among the three epochs obtained. In addition to the photometric variability and the near and mid-IR excess, the evidence suggests that it might be experiencing an unstable phase in its life with a period of enhanced mass loss. Moreover, we have confirmed shocked material in its immediate surroundings. After using Gaia DR3 to compute its peculiar velocity we verified that it is moving towards the shocked region. Hence [W60]B90 can be considered a strong candidate to be the first RSG with a bow shock outside the Milky Way (and the fourth RSG in general). Direct detection of the bow shock would be crucial to understand the interaction between star-ISM in a subsolar metallicity environment and may open a new horizon to estimate its previous mass loss and compare it with the current status of this unique star.