NGC 2363-V1 is a

luminous blue variable Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are massive evolved stars that show unpredictable and sometimes dramatic variations in their spectra and brightness. They are also known as S Doradus variables after S Doradus, one of the brightest stars of the Larg ...

star in the star-forming region

NGC 2363 NGC 2363 is a star-forming region in the Magellanic galaxy NGC 2366 which is located in the constellation Camelopardalis. It contains NGC 2363-V1, a luminous blue variable Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are massive evolved stars that show unpr ...

, at the far southwestern part of the

irregular galaxy An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, unlike a spiral or an elliptical galaxy. Irregular galaxies do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often chaotic in appearanc ...

NGC 2366 NGC 2366 is a Magellanic Catalogue of Stars, Magellanic barred irregular galaxy, barred irregular dwarf galaxy located in the constellation Camelopardalis. There has been confusion about the various components of NGC 2366 and its neighbouring ...

in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

Camelopardalis Camelopardalis is a large but faint constellation of the northern sky representing a giraffe. The constellation was introduced in 1612 or 1613 by Petrus Plancius. Some older astronomy books give Camelopardalus or Camelopardus as alternative for ...

, near the north celestial pole nearly 11 million

light year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s away from our galaxy. It was discovered in 1996 by Laurent Drissen, Jean-René Roy, and

Carmelle Robert Carmelle Robert (born 1962) is a Quebec astrophysicist, starburst researcher and professor at the Department of Physics, Physical Engineering and Optics at Université Laval, in Quebec City, Quebec. Biography Robert earned her undergraduate deg ...

while examining images taken by the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versa ...

Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) is a camera formerly installed on the Hubble Space Telescope. The camera was built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is roughly the size of a baby grand piano. It was installed by servicing mission ...

NGC 2363-V1 is one of the most luminous stars known. It has been undergoing an increase in temperature and luminosity for the last 20 years, after a dramatic increase in its rate of mass loss. Significant luminosity variation within a human lifetime is rare in LBVs, e.g. Eta Carinae during its Great Eruption (1837 to 1855). NGC 2363-V1 shows an extreme B hypergiant spectrum similar to P Cygni rather than the presently cool Eta Carinae outburst spectrum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 2363-V1 Stars in NGC 2366 Camelopardalis Luminous blue variables Extragalactic stars