Bibcode
                                    
                            Kameswara Rao, N.; Lambert, David L.; García-Hernández, D. A.; Manchado, A.
    Bibliographical reference
                                    Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 431, Issue 1, p.159-166
Advertised on:
    
                        5
            
                        2013
            
  Citations
                                    0
                            Refereed citations
                                    0
                            Description
                                    Among the distinguishing characteristics of the remarkable hot R Coronae
Borealis star DY Centauri, which was recently found to be a
spectroscopic binary, is the presence of nebular forbidden lines in its
optical spectrum. A compilation of photometry from 1970 to the present
suggests that the star has evolved to higher effective temperatures. A
comparison of spectra from 2010 with earlier spectra has shown that
between 2003 and 2010, the 6717 and 6730 Å emission lines of [S
II] underwent a dramatic change in their fluxes. This suggests that
there was an increase in the nebula's electron density from 290 to 3140
cm-3 between 1989 and 2010, while the stellar temperature
increased from 19 500 to 25 000 K. The nebular radius is about 0.02 pc,
which is 60 000 times larger than the semimajor axis of the DY Cen
binary system. The rapid changes of stellar temperature and the nebula's
response to these changes demonstrate stellar evolution in action.
                            Related projects
                 
Nucleosynthesis and molecular processes in the late stages of Stellar Evolution 
            
    Low- to intermediate-mass (M < 8 solar masses, Ms) stars represent the majority of stars in the Cosmos. They finish their lives on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) - just before they form planetary nebulae (PNe) - where they experience complex nucleosynthetic and molecular processes. AGB stars are important contributors to the enrichment of the
            
            Domingo Aníbal
            
                        García Hernández