A carbon star (C-type star) is typically an asymptotic giant branch star, a luminous red giant, whose atmosphere contains more carbon than oxygen. The two elements combine in the upper layers of the star, forming carbon monoxide, which consumes all the oxygen in the atmosphere, leaving carbon atoms free to form other carbon compounds, giving the star a "sooty" atmosphere and a strikingly ruby red appearance. There are also some dwarf and supergiant carbon stars, with the more common giant stars sometimes being called classical carbon stars to distinguish them.
In most stars (such as the Sun), the atmosphere is richer in oxygen than carbon. Ordinary stars not exhibiting the characteristics of carbon stars but cool enough to form carbon monoxide are therefore called oxygen-rich stars.
Carbon stars have quite distinctive spectral characteristics, and they were first recognized by their spectra by Angelo Secchi in the 1860s, a pioneering time in astronomical spectroscopy.
Spectra
Echelle spectra of the carbon star UU Aurigae.
By definition carbon stars have dominant spectral Swan bands from the molecule C2. Many other carbon compounds may be present at high levels, such as CH, CN (cyanogen), C3 and SiC2. Carbon is formed in the core and circulated into its upper layers, dramatically changing the layers' composition. In addition to carbon, S-process elements such as barium, technetium, and zirconium are formed in the shell flashes and are "dredged up" to the surface.[1]
When astronomers developed the spectral classification of the carbon stars, they had considerable difficulty when trying to correlate the spectra to the stars' effective temperatures. The trouble was with all the atmospheric carbon hiding the absorption lines normally used as temperature indicators for the stars.
Carbon stars also show a rich spectrum of molecular lines at millimeter wavelengths and submillimeter wavelengths. In the carbon star CW Leonis more than 50 different circumstellar molecules have been detected. This star is often used to search for new circumstellar molecules.
Secchi
Carbon stars were discovered already in the 1860s when spectral classification pioneer Angelo Secchi erected the Secchi class IV for the carbon stars, which in the late 1890s were reclassified as N class stars.[2]
Harvard
Using this new Harvard classification, the N class was later enhanced by an R class for less deeply red stars sharing the characteristic carbon bands of the spectrum. Later correlation of this R to N scheme with conventional spectra, showed that the R-N sequence approximately run in parallel with c:a G7 to M10 with regards to star temperature.[3]
| MK-type | R0 | R3 | R5 | R8 | Na | Nb |
| giant equiv. | G7-G8 | K1-K2 | ~K2-K3 | K5-M0 | ~M2-M3 | M3-M4 |
| Teff | 4300 | 3900 | ~3700 | 3450 | --- | --- |
Morgan–Keenan C system
The later N classes correspond less well to the counterparting M types, because the Harvard classification was only partially based on temperature, but also carbon abundance; so it soon became clear that this kind of carbon star classification was incomplete. Instead a new dual number star class C was erected so to deal with temperature and carbon abundance. Such a spectrum measured for Y Canum Venaticorum, was determined to be C54, where 5 refers to temperature dependent features, and 4 to the strength of the C2 Swan bands in the spectrum. (C54 is very often alternatively written C5,4).[4] This Morgan–Keenan C system classification replaced the older R-N classifications from 1960–1993.
| MK-type | C0 | C1 | C2 | C3 | C4 | C5 | C6 | C7 |
| giant equiv. | G4-G6 | G7-G8 | G9-K0 | K1-K2 | K3-K4 | K5-M0 | M1-M2 | M3-M4 |
| Teff | 4500 | 4300 | 4100 | 3900 | 3650 | 3450 | --- | --- |
The Revised Morgan–Keenan system
The two-dimensional Morgan–Keenan C classification failed to fulfill the creators' expectations:
it failed to correlate to temperature measurements based on infrared,
originally being two-dimensional it was soon enhanced by suffixes, CH, CN, j and other features making it impractical for en-masse analyses of foreign galaxies' carbon star populations,
and it gradually occurred that the old R and N stars actually were two distinct types of carbon stars, having real astrophysical significance.
A new revised Morgan–Keenan classification was published in 1993 by Philip Keenan, defining the classes:
| class | spectrum | population | MV | theory | temperature range (K)[7] |
example(s) | # known |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| classical carbon stars | |||||||
| C-R: | the old Harvard class R reborn: are still visible at the blue end of the spectrum, strong isotopic bands, no enhanced Ba line | medium disc pop I | 0 | red giants? | 5100-2800 | S Cam | ~25 |
| C-N: | the old Harvard class N reborn: heavy diffuse blue absorption, sometimes invisible in blue, s-process elements enhanced over solar abundance, weak isotopic bands | thin disc pop I | -2.2 | AGB | 3100-2600 | R Lep | ~90 |
| non-classical carbon stars | |||||||
| C-J: | very strong isotopic bands of C2 and CN | unknown | unknown | unknown | 3900-2800 | Y CVn | ~20 |
| C-H: | very strong CH absorption | halo pop II | -1.8 | bright giants, mass transfer (all C-H:s are binary [8]) | 5000-4100 | V Ari, TT CVn | ~20 |
| C-Hd: | hydrogen lines and CH bands weak or absent | thin disc pop I | -3.5 | unknown | ? | HD 137613 | ~7 |
Astrophysical mechanisms
Carbon stars can be explained by more than one astrophysical mechanism. Classical carbon stars are distinguished from non-classical ones on the grounds of mass, with classical carbon stars being the more massive.[9]
In the classical carbon stars, those belonging to the modern spectral types C-R and C-N, the abundance of carbon is thought to be a product of helium fusion, specifically the triple-alpha process within a star, which giants reach near the end of their lives in the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). These fusion products have been brought to the stellar surface by episodes of convection (the so-called third dredge-up) after the carbon and other products were made. Normally this kind of AGB carbon star fuses hydrogen in a hydrogen burning shell, but in episodes separated by 104-105 years, the star transforms to burning helium in a shell, while the hydrogen fusion temporarily ceases. In this phase, the star's luminosity rises, and material from the interior of the star (notably carbon) moves up. Since the luminosity rises, the star expands so that the helium fusion ceases, and the hydrogen shell burning restarts. During these shell helium flashes, the mass loss from the star is significant, and after many shell helium flashes, an AGB star is transformed into a hot white dwarf and its atmosphere becomes material for a planetary nebula.
The non-classical kinds of carbon stars, belonging to the types C-J and C-H, are believed to be binary stars, where one star is observed to be a giant star (or occasionally a red dwarf) and the other a white dwarf. The star presently observed to be a giant star accreted carbon-rich material when it was still a main-sequence star from its companion (that is, the star that is now the white dwarf) when the latter was still a classical carbon star. That phase of stellar evolution is relatively brief, and most such stars ultimately end up as white dwarfs. These systems are now being observed a comparatively long time after the mass transfer event, so the extra carbon observed in the present red giant was not produced within that star.[9] This scenario is also accepted as the origin of the barium stars, which are also characterized as having strong spectral features of carbon molecules and of barium (an s-process element). Sometimes the stars whose excess carbon came from this mass transfer are called "extrinsic" carbon stars to distinguish them from the "intrinsic" AGB stars which produce the carbon internally. Many of these extrinsic carbon stars are not luminous or cool enough to have made their own carbon, which was a puzzle until their binary nature was discovered.
The enigmatic hydrogen deficient carbon stars (HdC), belonging to the spectral class C-Hd, seems to have some relation to R Coronae Borealis variables (RCB), but are not variable themselves and lack a certain infrared radiation typical for RCB:s. Only five HdC:s are known, and none is known to be binary,[10] so the relation to the non-classical carbon stars is not known.
Other less convincing theories, such as CNO cycle unbalancing and core helium flash have also been proposed as mechanisms for carbon enrichment in the atmospheres of smaller carbon stars.
Other characteristics
Optical light image of the carbon star VX Andromedae.
Most classical carbon stars are variable stars of the long period variable types.
Observing carbon stars
Due to the insensitivity of night vision to red and a slow adaption of the red sensitive eye rods to the light of the stars, astronomers making magnitude estimates of red variable stars, especially carbon stars, have to know how to deal with the Purkinje effect in order not to underestimate the magnitude of the observed star.
Generation of interstellar dust
Owing to its low surface gravity, as much as half (or more) of the total mass of a carbon star may be lost by way of powerful stellar winds. The star's remnants, carbon-rich "dust" similar to graphite, therefore become part of the interstellar dust.[11] This dust is believed to be a significant factor in providing the raw materials for the creation of subsequent generations of stars and their planetary systems. The material surrounding a carbon star may blanket it to the extent that the dust absorbs all visible light.
Other classifications
Other types of carbon stars include:
CCS – Cool Carbon Star
CEMP – Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor
CEMP-no – Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor star with no enhancement of elements produced by the r-process or s-process nucleosynthesis
CEMP-r – Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor star with an enhancement of elements produced by r-process nucleosynthesis
CEMP-s – Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor star with an enhancement of elements produced by s-process nucleosynthesis
CEMP-r/s – Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor star with an enhancement of elements produced by both r-process and s-process nucleosynthesis
CGCS – Cool Galactic Carbon Star
See also
Barium star – Spectral class G to K giants, whose spectra indicate an overabundance of s-process elements by the presence of singly ionized barium
S-type star – A cool giant with approximately equal quantities of carbon and oxygen in its atmosphere
Technetium star – Star whose stellar spectrum contains absorption lines of technetium
Marc Aaronson – American astronomer, American astronomer and noted researcher of carbon stars
Specimens:
R Leporis, Hind's Crimson Star: an example of a carbon star
IRC +10216, CW Leonis: the most studied carbon star, and also the brightest star in the sky at N-band
La Superba, Y Canum Venaticorum: one of the brighter carbon stars
References
Savina, Michael R.; Davis, Andrew M.; Tripa, C. Emil; Pellin, Michael J.; Clayton, Robert N.; Lewis, Roy S.; Amari, Sachiko; Gallino, Roberto; Lugaro, Maria (2003). "Barium isotopes in individual presolar silicon carbide grains from the Murchison meteorite". Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 67 (17): 3201. Bibcode:2003GeCoA..67.3201S. doi:10.1016/S0016-7037(03)00083-8.
Gottesman, S. (Spring 2009). "Classification of Stellar Spectra: Some History". AST2039 Materials. Retrieved 2012-03-21.
Clowes, C. (25 October 2003). "Carbon Stars". peripatus.gen.nz. Archived from the original on 2012-02-05. Retrieved 2012-03-21.
Keenan, P. C.; Morgan, W. W. (1941). "The Classification of the Red Carbon Stars". The Astrophysical Journal. 94: 501. Bibcode:1941ApJ....94..501K. doi:10.1086/144356.
Keenan, P. C. (1993). "Revised MK Spectral Classification of the Red Carbon Stars". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 105: 905. Bibcode:1993PASP..105..905K. doi:10.1086/133252.
"Spectral Atlas of Carbon Stars". Retrieved 2012-03-21.
Tanaka, M.; et al. (2007). "Near-Infrared Spectra of 29 Carbon Stars: Simple Estimates of Effective Temperature". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 59 (5): 939–953. Bibcode:2007PASJ...59..939T. doi:10.1093/pasj/59.5.939.
McClure, R. D.; Woodsworth, A. W. (1990). "The Binary Nature of the Barium and CH Stars. III – Orbital Parameters". The Astrophysical Journal. 352: 709. Bibcode:1990ApJ...352..709M. doi:10.1086/168573.
McClure, R. D. (1985). "The Carbon and Related Stars". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 79: 277. Bibcode:1985JRASC..79..277M.
Clayton, G. C. (1996). "The R Coronae Borealis Stars". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 108: 225. Bibcode:1996PASP..108..225C. doi:10.1086/133715.
Wallerstein, George; Knapp, Gillian R. (September 1998). "CARBON STARS". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 36 (1): 369–433. Bibcode:1998ARA&A..36..369W. doi:10.1146/annurev.astro.36.1.369.
External links
List of 110 carbon stars. Includes HD number; secondary identification for most; position in right ascension and declination ; magnitude; spectrum; magnitude range (for variable stars); period (of variability cycle).
vte
Accretion Molecular cloud Bok globule Young stellar object
Protostar Pre-main-sequence Herbig Ae/Be T Tauri FU Orionis Herbig–Haro object Hayashi track Henyey track
Main sequence Red-giant branch Horizontal branch
Red clump Asymptotic giant branch
super-AGB Blue loop Protoplanetary nebula Planetary nebula PG1159 Dredge-up OH/IR Instability strip Luminous blue variable Blue straggler Stellar population Supernova Superluminous supernova / Hypernova
Early Late Main sequence
O B A F G K M Brown dwarf WR OB Subdwarf
O B Subgiant Giant
Blue Red Yellow Bright giant Supergiant
Blue Red Yellow Hypergiant
Yellow Carbon
S CN CH White dwarf Chemically peculiar
Am Ap/Bp HgMn Helium-weak Barium Extreme helium Lambda Boötis Lead Technetium Be
Shell B[e]
White dwarf
Helium planet Black dwarf Neutron
Radio-quiet Pulsar
Binary X-ray Magnetar Stellar black hole X-ray binary
Burster
Hypothetical
Blue dwarf Green Black dwarf Exotic
Boson Electroweak Strange Preon Planck Dark Dark-energy Quark Q Black Gravastar Frozen Quasi-star Thorne–Żytkow object Iron Blitzar
Deuterium burning Lithium burning Proton–proton chain CNO cycle Helium flash Triple-alpha process Alpha process Carbon burning Neon burning Oxygen burning Silicon burning S-process R-process Fusor Nova
Symbiotic Remnant Luminous red nova
Structure
Core Convection zone
Microturbulence Oscillations Radiation zone Atmosphere
Photosphere Starspot Chromosphere Stellar corona Stellar wind
Bubble Bipolar outflow Accretion disk Asteroseismology
Helioseismology Eddington luminosity Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism
Properties
Designation Dynamics Effective temperature Luminosity Kinematics Magnetic field Absolute magnitude Mass Metallicity Rotation Starlight Variable Photometric system Color index Hertzsprung–Russell diagram Color–color diagram
Star systems
Binary
Contact Common envelope Eclipsing Symbiotic Multiple Cluster
Open Globular Super Planetary system
Earth-centric
observations
Sun
Solar System Sunlight Pole star Circumpolar Constellation Asterism Magnitude
Apparent Extinction Photographic Radial velocity Proper motion Parallax Photometric-standard
Lists
Proper names
Arabic Chinese Extremes Most massive Highest temperature Lowest temperature Largest volume Smallest volume Brightest
Historical Most luminous Nearest
Nearest bright With exoplanets Brown dwarfs White dwarfs Milky Way novae Supernovae
Candidates Remnants Planetary nebulae Timeline of stellar astronomy
Related articles
Substellar object
Brown dwarf Sub-brown dwarf Planet Galactic year Galaxy Guest Gravity Intergalactic Planet-hosting stars Tidal disruption event
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