Luminosity (bolometric) 245,000 L☉ Magnitude 12.94 Apparent magnitude (V) 12.94 B−V color index +1.43 | Luminosity (visual, LV) 847 L☉ Constellation Cygnus U−B color index −0.29 Distance 4,000 ly; (1,230 pc) | |
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WR 142 is a Wolf-Rayet star in the constellation Cygnus, an extremely rare star on the WO oxygen sequence.
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Features
WR 142 is usually assumed to be a member of the open cluster Berkeley 87, whose distance from the Sun is not very well known but thought to be around 1.23 kiloparsecs (4,000 light-years). As with its home cluster its light is very reddened and extinguished by interstellar dust.
This star, of spectral classification WO2, is one of the very few known oxygen-sequence Wolf-Rayet stars, just four in the Milky Way galaxy and five in external galaxies. It is also one of the hottest known with a surface temperature of 200,000 K. Modelling the atmosphere gives a luminosity around 245,000 L☉, while calculations from brightness and distance give luminosities of 500,000 L☉or more. It is a very small dense star, with a radius 40% of the Sun's but a mass 20 times greater. Very strong stellar winds, with a terminal velocity of 5,000 kilometers per second are causing WR 142 to lose 10−5 M☉/year. For comparison, the Sun loses (2-3) x 10−14 solar masses per year due to its solar wind, several hundred million times less than WR 142.
Hard X-Ray emission has been detected from this star with the help of the Chandra space telescope, that has been suggested to be caused by the presence of a companion, a B-type main sequence star located at a distance of 1 AU from WR 142. There is no other indication of a companion and other reasons for the x-ray luminosity are considered more likely.
Evolutionary status
WO Wolf-Rayet stars are the last evolutionary stage of the most massive stars before exploding as supernovae, possibly with a gamma-ray burst (GRB). It is very likely that WR 142 is on its last stages of nuclear fusion, near or beyond the end of helium burning. It is estimated to explode as a supernova in approximately 2,000 years. The mass and rapid rotation make a GRB likely.