Professor Stephen Smartt CBE FRS MRIA

Abstract:

Half hour exposures using the ESO VLT/FORS1 combination at Parañal in Chile have allowed us to obtain spectra for three B supergiants in the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822. The spectra have been analysed using non-LTE techniques and temperatures, gravities, helium content and abundances have been obtained. Overall the metallicity of NGC 6822 is found to lie between that of the LMC and of the SMC, in agreement with previous observations of H II regions and in contrast to the earlier findings of Massey et al. (1995). The analysis of Hα yields estimates of the mass-loss rates and wind momenta. These results demonstrate that significantly longer exposures with the same instruments will allow us to perform quantitative spectroscopy of blue supergiants in galaxies far beyond the Local Group.

Abstract:

As part of a programme to investigate spatial variations in the Galactic chemical composition, we have been searching for normal B-type stars and A-type supergiants near the Galactic center. During this search we have found eleven peculiar stars, and in some cases performed detailed abundance analyses of them which suggest that they may be at a post-AGB evolutionary stage. The A-type post-AGB candidates show [Fe/H]=-1.0 to -2.0, and [O/Fe]∼+1.4, typical of the post-AGB abundance patterns discussed in the literature. One star, LS 3591 (=SAO 243756), has also been examined recently by Oudmaijer (1996); its spectrum appears to be changing very rapidly, which may indicate erratic mass loss or the incipient formation of a planetary nebula. A B-type post-AGB candidate, LS 4950, has a similar spectrum to a well studied post-AGB star, LSIV -12 111. However, an examination of the line strengths and elemental abundances of LS 4950 show that it is peculiar for both a Population II, post-AGB, B-type star and for a normal, Population I, B-type supergiant. Two other B-type stars, LS 4825 and LS 5112, are either post-AGB stars near the Galactic center or normal B-type supergiants lying well beyond the Galactic center. In addition, several Be-type stars have been newly (or more clearly) identified from our spectra.