[2] It had a very likely associated, notable, blue-light, long-lived star with constant outbursts or a large supernova observed to have faded and which then disappeared.

Although this bright visible jet-producing object responsible for broad hydrogen emission lines with P Cygni profiles was widely considered to be a luminous blue variable ejecting matter, other studies posited the mentioned, competing, explanations for the bright light source within.

PHL 293 was first listed as entry 293 in a catalogue of faint blue stars published by Guillermo Haro and Willem Jacob Luyten in 1962.

[7] The spectrum of PHL 293B is unusual both for its low metallicity and for broad hydrogen emission lines with P Cygni profiles.

[citation needed] An alternative explanation would be a long-lived type IIn supernova, similar to the transient event of SDSS1133.