Related papers: Revealing evolved massive stars with Spitzer

We report the first-ever discovery of a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star in the Large Magellanic Cloud via detection of a circular shell with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Follow-up observations with Gemini-South resolved the central star of the shell…

Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are the evolved descendants of massive O-type stars and are considered to be progenitor candidates for Type Ib/c core-collapse supernovae (SNe). Recent results of our HST/WFC3 survey of Wolf-Rayet stars in M101 are…

We present first results of our study of a sample of Galactic LBV, aimed to contribute to a better understanding of the LBV phenomenon, by recovering the mass-loss history of the central object from the analysis of its associated nebula.…

We have conducted an analysis of nebulae around Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in M33 using data collected by the imaging Fourier transform spectrometer SITELLE at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope as part of the SIGNALS Large Program. Of the 211…

Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are helium-burning, evolved massive stars which have had most of their hydrogen-rich outer layers removed either through stellar winds and/or binary stripping. Here we report on LMC173-1, a WN3+O binary located in the…

The nebulae associated to four Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) have been observed at 5.5 and 9 GHz using the Australia Telescope Compact Array, and radio emission has been detected for first time in these…

Context. Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are rare massive stars with very high luminosity. They are characterized by strong photo-metric and spectroscopic variability related to transient eruptions. The mechanisms at the origin of these…

Several decades of observations of the most massive and most luminous stars have revealed a complex upper HR Diagram, shaped by mass loss, and inhabited by a variety of evolved stars exhibiting the consequences of their mass loss histories.…

Massive stars play an important role in both cluster and galactic evolution and the rate at which they lose mass is a key driver of both their own evolution and their interaction with the environment up to and including their SNe…

We examine high-cadence space photometry taken by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) of a sample of evolved massive stars (26 Wolf-Rayet stars and 8 Luminous Blue Variables or candidate LBVs). To avoid confusion problems, only…

Only about 19 Galactic and 25 extra-galactic bona-fide Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are known to date. This incomplete census prevents our understanding of this crucial phase of massive star evolution which leads to the formation of heavy…

The numbers and types of evolved massive stars found in nearby galaxies provide an exacting test of stellar evolution models. Because of their proximity and rich massive star populations, the Magellanic Clouds have long served as the…

An increasing number of non-terminal eruptions are being found in the numerous surveys for optical transients. Very little is known about these giant eruptions, their progenitors and their evolutionary state. A greatly improved census of…

Van Marle et al. (2005) showed that circumstellar absorption lines in early Type Ib/c supernova and gamma-ray burst afterglow spectra may reveal the progenitor evolution of the exploding Wolf-Rayet star. While the quoted paper deals with…

The MIPSGAL 24 $\mu$m Galactic Plane Survey has revealed more than 400 compact-extended objects. Less than 15% of these MIPSGAL bubbles (MBs) are known and identified as evolved stars. We present Spitzer observations of 4 MBs obtained with…

We present near-infrared photometry and K-band spectra of newly-identified massive stars in the Quintuplet Cluster, one of the three massive clusters projected within 50 pc of the Galactic Center. We find that the cluster contains a variety…

This paper examines, compares and plots optical, near- and mid-infrared (MIR) photometric data for 605 planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). With the aid of multi-wavelength surveys such as the Spitzer legacy…

The recent discovery of a gravitational wave from the merging of two black holes of about 30 solar masses each challenges our incomplete understanding of massive stars and their evolution. Critical ingredients comprise mass-loss, rotation,…

We present high resolution spectrophotometric data for 34 galactic planetary nebulae with [WC] nuclei (WRPNe).The sample includes PNe with early and late [WC] stars and some WELS. Physical conditions and chemical abundances have been…

We present the results of initial spectrographic followup with the Very Large Telescope (UT3, Melipal) for $K_s \ge 14$ Galactic plane CIV emission-line candidates in the near-infrared (NIR). These 7 faint stars all display prominent HeI…