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BLUE STARS; CHARGE COUPLED DEVICES; MAGELLANIC CLOUDS; STAR FORMATION; STELLAR MASS; POINT SPREAD FUNCTIONS; STELLAR SYSTEMS
Abstract :
[en] New evidence against the existence of very massive stars in the Magellanic Clouds is presented. Using high resolution CCD images and appropriate image restoration methods, it is shown that Sk 157 and Sk-69 deg 253, lying in the SMC and LMC, respectively, are not single, very massive, but multiple systems. Thus, two of the most massive stars in existence, with the estimated masses of about 85 solar masses and greater than 120 solar masses vanish from astronomy. The results presented here have important implications for star formation models and the extragalactic distance scale.
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Author, co-author :
Heydari-Malayeri, M.; European Southern Observatory, Garching, Federal Republic of Germany
Remy, M.
Magain, Pierre ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Astrophysique et traitement de l'image