Magnitude 13.09 | Luminosity 8 million L☉ Apparent magnitude (V) 13.09 | |
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Similar R136a2, HD 37974, VFTS 682 | ||
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.
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Physical characteristics
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.