WR 102ka
The "Peony Nebula," as discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This three-color infrared composite shows 3.6-micrometre light in blue, 8-micrometre light in green, and 24-micrometre light in red. The Peony nebula is the reddish cloud of dust in and around the white circle, surrounding the Peony nebular star. | |
| Observation data Epoch J2000. Equinox J2000. | |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Right ascension | 17h 46m 18.12s |
| Declination | −29° 01′ 36.5″ |
| Characteristics | |
| Evolutionary stage | Slash star |
| Spectral type | Ofpe/WN9 |
| Apparent magnitude (J) | 13.0 |
| Apparent magnitude (H) | 10.3 |
| Apparent magnitude (K) | 8.8 |
| J−H color index | 2.7 |
| J−K color index | 4.2 |
| Variable type | |
| Astrometry | |
| Distance | 26,000 ly (8,000 pc) |
| Details | |
| Mass | ~100 M☉ |
| Radius | 92 R☉ |
| Luminosity | 2,950,000 L☉ |
| Temperature | 25,100 K |
| Age | ~2 Myr |
| Other designations | |
| Peony Star, Peony nebula star, WR 102ka, 2MASS J17461811-2901366, ISOGAL-P J174618.2-290136, MSX6C G000.0003-00.1743 | |
| Database references | |
| SIMBAD | data |
WR 102ka, also known as the Peony star, is a slash star that is one of several candidates for the most luminous-known star in the Milky Way.