Discovery of multiple shells around V838 Monocerotis

Abstract

We report the discovery of multiple shells around the eruptive variable star V838 Mon. Two dust shells are seen in IRAS and MSX images, which themselves are situated in a shell of CO. This securely establishes V838 Mon as an evolved object. We revisit the light echo, which arises from scattering off the innermost resolved dust shell, to infer a distance to V838 Mon of >~5.5 kpc. The dynamical timescales of the ejected shells, location in the Milky Way and inferred luminosity are consistent with V838 Mon being a low-mass AGB star experiencing thermal pulses of which the 2002 eruption might have sent the star into the post-AGB phase. This scenario, however, is inconsistent with the presence of a (young and massive) B3 V companion.

5 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

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• On the progenitor of V838 Monocerotis
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• V838 Mon: light echo evolution and distance estimate
• Near-Infrared water lines in V838 Monocerotis
• Interferometric Observations of V838 Monocerotis
• Spitzer Observations of V838 Monocerotis: Detection of a Rare Infrared Light Echo
• On the properties of dust and gas in the environs of V838 Monocerotis
• Observations of V838 Mon in the CO rotational lines
• The Red Nova-like Variable in M31 - A Blue Candidate in Quiescence
• The properties of V838 Mon in 2002 November
• Interferometric Observations of Explosive Variables: V838 Mon, Nova Aql 2005, and RS Oph