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The Massive Contact Binary RY Scuti: A WR+OB Progenitor and Its Compact Nebula

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Nathan Smith
Affiliation:
Astronomy Department, University of Minnesota, 116 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Robert D. Gehrz
Affiliation:
Astronomy Department, University of Minnesota, 116 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

Abstract

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RY Scuti is a massive contact binary in a critical Roche-lobe overflow phase, and it may be an immediate progenitor of a WR+OB binary system like V444 Cygni. It may also have something in common with the eruptive binary HD 5980 in the SMC. RY Scuti is a nearby eclipsing binary, but basic parameters like the mass and evolutionary state of its individual components seem difficult to nail down because it is a common-envelope system. It is also surrounded by a compact double-ring nebula with geometry and kinematics that have interesting implications for its mass-loss mechanism. Some recent results of high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy of the nebula are reviewed here.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2002

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