LBV star

How does a star simply vanish? Astrophysics

How does a star simply vanish?

PHL 293B, also known as HL 293B, the Kinman dwarf galaxy, A2228-00, or SDSS J223036.79-000636.9, is a small, not especially bright galaxy 75 million light-years from the Sun. It belongs to a class of so-called “blue compact dwarf galaxies.” These normally consist of several large, young star clusters containing hot, massive stars. The brightest of these are blue – thus the designation of the galaxies and their color. PHL 293B is no different. Between 2001 and 2011, astronomers observed that the dwarf galaxy was dominated by a blue giant, a “luminous blue variable” (LBV), which shines approximately 2.5 million…