page_title: Luminous blue variable
hierarchical_section_title: Luminous blue variable
caption_attribution_description: English: From the Hubble Legacy Archive - http://hla.stsci.edu/hlaview.html Red Channel (Hydrogen alpha): hst_05149_01_wfpc2_f658n_pc_sci Green Channel: pseudo Blue Channel: hst_05149_01_wfpc2_f547m_pc_sci Processing by Judy Schmidt
context_page_description: Luminous blue variables are massive evolved stars. They show unpredictable and sometimes dramatic variations in their spectra and their brightness.
  These unstable supergiants or hypergiants are also known as S Doradus variables. S Doradus is one of the brightest stars of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
  LBVs are extraordinarily rare with just 20 listed in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars as SDor, and some of these are no longer considered to be LBVs.
  In their "quiescent" state they are typically B-type stars, occasionally slightly hotter, with unusual emission lines. They are found in a region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram known as the S Doradus instability strip. They are the least luminous have a temperature around 10,000 K and a luminosity about 250,000 times the Sun. The most luminous have a temperature around 25,000 K and a luminosity over a million times the Sun. These are some of the most luminous of all stars.
  Their relationship to supernovae is unclear.
context_section_description: Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are massive evolved stars. They show unpredictable and sometimes dramatic variations in their spectra and their brightness. 
  These unstable supergiants or hypergiants are also known as S Doradus variables. S Doradus is one of the brightest stars of the Large Magellanic Cloud. 
  LBVs are extraordinarily rare with just 20 listed in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars as SDor, and some of these are no longer considered to be LBVs.
  In their "quiescent" state they are typically B-type stars, occasionally slightly hotter, with unusual emission lines. They are found in a region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram known as the S Doradus instability strip. They are the least luminous have a temperature around 10,000 K and a luminosity about 250,000 times the Sun. The most luminous have a temperature around 25,000 K and a luminosity over a million times the Sun. These are some of the most luminous of all stars.
  Their relationship to supernovae is unclear.
caption: Luminous blue variable AG Carinae as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope
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