Related papers: Revealing evolved massive stars with Spitzer
The advanced stages of several high-mass stars are characterized by episodic mass loss shed during phases of instability. Key for assigning these stars a proper evolutionary state is to assess the composition and geometry of their ejecta…
We report new results from our effort to identify obscured Wolf-Rayet stars in the Galaxy. Candidates were selected by their near-infrared (2MASS) and mid-infrared (Spitzer/GLIMPSE) color excesses, which are consistent with free-free…
In the current paper, we present a study of the spatial distribution of luminous blue variables (LBVs) and various LBV candidates (cLBVs) with respect to OB associations in the M33 galaxy. The identification of blue star groups was based on…
We investigate Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars as a source of feedback contributing to the removal of natal material in the early evolution of massive star clusters. Despite previous work suggesting that massive star clusters clear out their natal…
Wolf-Rayet stars are amongst the rarest but also most intriguing massive stars. Their extreme stellar winds induce famous multi-wavelength circumstellar gas nebulae of various morphologies, spanning from circles and rings to bipolar shapes.…
Observing the stars in our night sky tells us that giant, supergiant and hypergiant stars hold an unique importance in the understanding of stellar populations. Theoretical stellar models predict a rich tapestry of evolved stars. These…
We have spectroscopically identified 60 Galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, including 38 nitrogen types (WN) and 22 carbon types (WC). Using photometry from the Spitzer/GLIMPSE and 2MASS databases, the WRs were selected via a method we have…
Massive stars are powerful cosmic engines. In the phases immediately preceding core-collapse, massive stars in the Galaxy with $M_i \gtrsim 20$ $M_{\odot}$ may appear as classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. As the final contribution of a…
We discuss the various post-main sequence phases of massive stars, focusing on Wolf-Rayet stars, Luminous Blue Variables, plus connections with other early-type and late-type supergiants. End states for massive stars are also investigated,…
We present a mini-survey of Galactic B[e] stars mainly undertaken with the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). B[e] stars show morphological features with hydrogen emission lines and an infrared excess, attributed to warm circumstellar dust.…
(abridged) Mass loss is a key parameter in the evolution of massive stars, with discrepancies between theory and observations and with unknown importance of the episodic mass loss. To address this we need increased numbers of classified…
We construct revised near-infrared absolute magnitude calibrations for 126 Galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars at known distances, based in part upon recent large scale spectroscopic surveys. Application to 246 WR stars located in the field,…
As massive stars evolve, their winds change. This causes a series of hydrodynamical interactions in the surrounding medium. Whenever a fast wind follows a slow wind phase, the fast wind sweeps up the slow wind in a shell, which can be…
B[e] stars are massive B type emission line stars in different evolutionary stages ranging from pre-main sequence to post-main sequence. Due to their mass loss and ejection events these objects deposit huge amounts of mass and energy into…
Some of the Wolf-Rayet stars are found to have very high bolometric luminosities (more than 1000000 solar). We employ the Potsdam Wolf-Rayet (PoWR) model atmospheres for their spectral analysis, which yields the bolometric corrections.…
The Wolf-Rayet nebula M1-67 around WR124 is located above the Galactic plane in a region mostly empty of interstellar medium, which makes it the perfect target to study the mass-loss episodes associated with the late stages of massive star…
We describe our spectroscopic follow-up to the Local Group Galaxy Survey (LGGS) photometry of M31 and M33. We have obtained new spectroscopy of 1895 stars, allowing us to classify 1496 of them for the first time. Our study has identified…
The total population of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in the Galaxy is predicted by models to be as many as $\sim$6000 stars, and yet the number of catalogued WR stars as a result of optical surveys was far lower than this ($\sim$200) at the turn…
I discuss the role played by short-duration eruptive mass loss in the evolution of very massive stars. Giant eruptions of Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) like the 19th century event of eta Carinae can remove large quantities of mass almost…
To probe the nature of stellar evolution in dense environments, we study the dense core of the globular cluster Messier 13 using pre-refurbishment Planetary Camera-I images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. We find 15 blue straggler…