Wind Variability in Intermediate Luminosity B Supergiants

Abstract

We discuss wind variability in intermediate luminosity B supergiants. Because these are not the hottest, most luminous or just about other kind of “-est” stars, they have not attracted much attention. However, since their wind lines are well-developed, but unsaturated, they make ideal diagnostics for time dependent wind studies. We show that their wind profiles undergo large scale variability and that this phenomenon is quite common. We also discuss a time series for the B0.5 Ib HD 64760 which suggests the long sought after connection between wind and photospheric activity. Newly developed analysis techniques needed to extract physical information from the wind lines are discussed, and results are applied to the time series.