As I am waiting my flight to Heraklion, I thought that I should post the talk that I gave earlier today at the National Observatory of Athens, Greece:
“B[e] Supergiants: a missing part from the massive star puzzle?”
Abstract:
Massive stars affect strongly the insterstellar medium through their intense stellar winds and their rich chemically processed material as they evolve. This interaction becomes substantial in short-lived transition phases of massive stars (e.g. B[e] Supergiants, Luminous Blue Variables, Yellow Hypergiants) in which mass-loss is more enhanced and usually eruptive. Consequently, a complex environment, combining atomic, molecular and dust regions is formed around these stars. In particular, the circumstellar environment of B[e] Supergiants is not well understood. Moreover, their possible link to other phases has not been fully uncovered yet, which is crucial given the importance of massive stars for Stellar Astrophysics and their influence on their host galaxies. Starting from an observational point of view, I will provide an overview of the B[e] Supergiant population and discuss the latest results.