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The Long-Term Variability of Luminous Blue Variables

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Roberta M. Humphreys
Roberta M. Humphreys*
Affiliation:
Astronomy Department, University of Minnesota, 116 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

Abstract

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The stars known as Luminous Blue Variables include two very distinctive subgroups - the S Dor-type variables which basically define what we call an LBV and the much rarer ‘giant eruption’ LBV’s which include famous stars like η Car and P Cyg. The distinctive characteristics and long term variability of these two groups is reviewed. The lesser 1890 eruption of η Car is shown to have been much more significant than previously believed and resembles the second peak seen in the historic light curve of P Cyg. Because so many, if not all, stars in certain parts of the HR diagram appear to be luminous, blue, and variable, I suggest returning to our previous designation - S Dor variables and η Car variables for these two important groups of stars.

Type
Section III Variable Winds
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 169: Variable and Non-spherical Stellar Winds in Luminous Hot Stars , 1999 , pp. 243 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © Springer-Verlag 1999

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