The observations detect hundreds of stars in two nearby constellations

Using the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), Chinese astronomers have identified about 300 of the brightest stars in the Andromeda and Triangulum constellations. The findings were reported in a research paper published on October 25 in the pre-print server arXiv.

Supergiants are supergiant stars, larger and brighter than the main sequence stars. Studying such things is important for improving our understanding of stellar evolution; however, their observation is complicated due to the fact that they are relatively distant, are often born in binary or multiple systems, and are associated with dense clouds of interstellar material.

In particular, systematic research and studies of supergiants in the Local Group of galaxies can be important to collect important data in order to constrain theoretical models of stellar evolution. However, although great progress has been made in the search for nearby Local Group galaxies, their number is still far from complete.

Now, a team of astronomers led by Hao Wu of Peking University in Beijing, China, has published the results of a new study that may greatly expand the list of known giants in the Milky Way. Way. They conducted a systematic review of supergiants in two Local Group groups: Messier 31 (Andromeda galaxy) and Messier 33 (Triangulum galaxy).

In total, based on data from LAMOST’s data release 10 (DR10) Wu’s team identified 199 massive stars in the Andromeda galaxy and 84 in the Triangulum galaxy. Astronomers noted that approximately 84% of Andromeda’s super candidates passed two independent selection procedures, indicating a high level of reliability as true super members of the this constellation. When it comes to the Triangulum constellation, this number is lower—about 67%.

According to the paper, the sample of candidates identified in the Andromeda galaxy consists of 134 yellow supergiants (YSGs), 62 blue supergiants (BSGs) and three red supergiants (RSGs). In the Triangulum constellation, researchers identified 53 YSGs, 28 BSGs and three RSGs.

One of the most massive stars that could be a member of both constellations is the one in Andromeda, called LAMOST J0043+4124. The mass of this star was estimated to be more than 40 times the mass of the sun.

Summarizing the results, the paper’s authors highlighted the importance of their newly published study.

“To date, this is one of the largest samples of M31/M33 with complete optical wavelength coverage. This sample is important for understanding star formation and stellar evolution under ‘of different conditions, “scientists concluded.

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