The distance of HD 168625 and its association with the Omega Nebula and HD 168607 is in doubt; while some authors think both stars are physically associated and belong to the stellar associationSerpens OB1,[9] at a distance to the Sun of 2.2 kiloparsecs (7,200 ly),[10] or for both per Gaia Data Release 2 about 1.6 kiloparsecs (5,200 ly),[8] a 2002 study estimates this star is farther, at about 2.8 kiloparsecs (9,100 ly) and unrelated to the other two objects.[11]
Physical characteristics
Assuming a distance of 2.2 kiloparsecs, the star would be 220,000 times brighter than the Sun, having a surface temperature of 12,000 K.[10] At that distance it can be calculated to be losing mass through a fierce stellar wind at roughly 1.46×10−6solar masses per year[13] however this is to be muted somewhat as work realized in 2012 from the VLT reveal a binary star system – [14] a companion exists around 4.5 magnitudes fainter than the primary.[15]
Nebula
The most notable characteristic of HD 168625 is the presence of a nebula surrounding it that was discovered in 1994[16] and that has been studied with the help of several instruments and observatories and telescopes that include among others the Hubble Space Telescope[11] and the VLT.[13]
Said studies show that HD 168625 is actually surrounded by two nebulae: an inner one that has an elliptical shape and a very complex structure that includes arcs and filaments,[11] and a much larger outer one discovered with the help of the Spitzer Space Telescope that has a bipolar shape and that looks like a clone of the one surrounding Sanduleak -69° 202, the progenitor of the supernova1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud.[17] This suggests Sanduleak −69° 202 was also a luminous blue variable as well as the possibility of HD 168625 exploding as a Type II supernova in the near future.[17]
East-north-east of the star and nebula is HD 168701 (HIP 90001), an eclipsing binary of beta Lyrae type.[18] It is at about six times the angular separation of HD 168607 viewed from the solar system and is the third very bright point to the south-east of the nebula. Its parallax of 0.7106 ± 0.0451 mas implies it is about 1,700 parsecs (5,500 ly) away.[18]
^Samus, N. N.; Durlevich, O. V.; et al. (2009). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/GCVS. Originally Published in: 2009yCat....102025S. 1. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.
^ abDucati, J. R. (2002). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: Catalogue of Stellar Photometry in Johnson's 11-color system". CDS/ADC Collection of Electronic Catalogues. 2237: 0. Bibcode:2002yCat.2237....0D.
^Sterken, C.; Arentoft, T.; Duerbeck, H. W.; Brogt, E. (1999). "Light variations of the blue hypergiants HD 168607 and HD 168625 (1973-1999)". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 349: 532. Bibcode:1999A&A...349..532S.
^Kharchenko, N.V.; Scholz, R.-D.; Piskunov, A.E.; Röser, S.; Schilbach, E. (2007). "Astrophysical supplements to the ASCC-2.5: Ia. Radial velocities of ~55000 stars and mean radial velocities of 516 Galactic open clusters and associations". Astronomische Nachrichten. 328 (9): 889–896. arXiv:0705.0878. Bibcode:2007AN....328..889K. doi:10.1002/asna.200710776. S2CID119323941.