Related papers: The new Wolf-Rayet binary system WR62a
We present the results of a four-month, spectroscopic campaign of the Wolf-Rayet dust-making binary, WR137. We detect only small-amplitude, random variability in the CIII5696 emission line and its integrated quantities (radial velocity,…
Using the Very Large Telescope's Spectrograph for INtegral Field Observation in the Near-Infrared (VLT/SINFONI), we have obtained repeated AO-assisted, NIR spectroscopy of the six central luminous, Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in the core of the…
We present multi-epoch spectroscopic observations of the massive binary system WR21a, which include the January 2011 periastron passage. Our spectra reveal multiple SB2 lines and facilitate an accurate determination of the orbit and the…
Classical Wolf-Rayet stars are the descendants of massive OB stars that have lost their hydrogen envelopes and are burning helium in their cores prior to exploding as type Ib/c supernovae. The mechanisms for losing their hydrogen envelopes…
We present the first near-infrared images of dusty Wolf-Rayet star WR 98a. Aperture masking interferometry has been utilized to recover images at the diffraction-limit of the Keck-I telescope, ~<50 mas at 2.2 micron. Multi-epoch…
Since the discovery, with the EINSTEIN satellite, of strong X-ray emission associated with HD93162 (=WR25), this object has been predicted to be a colliding-wind binary system. However, radial-velocity variations that would prove the…
We report our discovery of an extremely rare, low mass, quadruple-lined spectroscopic binary BD-22 5866 (=NLTT 53279, integrated spectral type = M0 V), found during an ongoing search for the youngest M dwarfs in the solar neighborhood. From…
The binary star HD 45166 has been observed since 1922 but its orbital period has not yet been found. It is considered a peculiar Wolf-Rayet star, and its assigned classification varied along the years. High-resolution spectroscopic…
The spectrum of the Wolf-Rayet (WR) star WR 63 contains spectral lines of two different O stars that show regular radial velocity (RV) variations with amplitudes of ~160 and ~225 km/s on a ~4.03 d period. The light-curve shows two narrow…
WR 20a is the most massive close-in binary known in our Galaxy. It is composed of two $\approx$80 M$_\odot$ Wolf-Rayet stars with a short period of $\approx$3.7 days in the open cluster Westerlund 2. As such, WR 20a presents us with a…
The problem of explaining the X-ray emission properties of the massive, close binary WR 20a is discussed. Located near the cluster core of Westerlund 2, WR 20a is composed of two nearly identical Wolf- Rayet stars of 82 and 83 solar masses…
EX Hya is one of the few double-lined eclipsing cataclysmic variables that allow an accurate measurement of the binary masses. We analyze orbital phase-resolved UVES/ VLT high resolution spectroscopic observations of EX Hya with the aims of…
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…
For the past three years we have been conducting a survey for WR stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC, SMC). Our previous work has resulted in the discovery of a new type of WR star in the LMC, which we are calling WN3/O3.…
The observed late-type WC Wolf-Rayet stars (WC7-9) with low luminosity below $\rm \log L/L_{\odot} < 5.4$ in the HR diagram cannot be reproduced satisfactorily by the evolutionary track of single stars. The mass transfer due to Roche lobe…
An X-ray study of a deeply embedded Wolf-Rayet star WR 121a has been carried out using long-term (spanning over ~12 years) archival observations from Chandra and XMM-Newton. For the first time, a periodic variation with a period of 4.1 days…
We confirmed the binary nature of the Be star 7~Vul, derived a~more accurate spectroscopic orbit with an orbital period of (69.4212+/-0.0034) d, and improved the knowledge of the basic physical elements of the system. Analyzing available…
We are carrying out a spectroscopic monitoring of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars, in order to detect binary systems. The sample consists of approximately 50 stars of the Nitrogen sequence (WN) and fainter than V = 13. The observations are made…
We present the results of an optical spectroscopic study of the massive Wolf-Rayet binary WR137. These data cover the dust-formation maximum in 1997. Combining all available measurements of radial velocities, we derive, for the first time,…
High resolution spectroscopic observations of AW UMa, obtained on three consecutive nights with the median time resolution of 2.1 minutes, have been analyzed using the Broadening Functions method in the spectral window Doppler images of the…