Related papers: Using a new spectral disentangling approach to asc…
HDE228766 is a very massive binary system hosting a secondary component, which is probably in an intermediate evolutionary stage between an Of supergiant and an WN star. The wind of this star collides with the wind of its O8 II companion,…
Near infrared spectroscopy and photometry of the Wolf-Rayet Star WR 143 (HD 195177) were obtained in the $JHK$ photometric bands. High resolution spectra observed in the J and H bands exhibit narrow 1.083-micron He I line and the H I Pa…
Double-lined spectroscopic binary systems, containing a Wolf-Rayet and a massive O-type star, are key objects for the study of massive star evolution because these kinds of systems allow the determination of fundamental astrophysical…
The hot star HDE 326823 is a candidate transition-phase object that is evolving into a nitrogen-enriched Wolf-Rayet star. It is also a known low-amplitude, photometric variable with a 6.123 d period. We present new, high and moderate…
Context. A significant number of the Wolf-Rayet stars seem to be binary or multiple systems, but the nature of many of them is still unknown. Dedicated monitoring of WR stars favours the discovery of new systems. Aims. We explore the…
LMCe055-1 was recently discovered in a survey for WRs in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and classified as a WN4/O4, a lower excitation version of the WN3/O3 class discovered as part of the same survey. Its absolute magnitude precluded it from…
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…
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…
We have found strong selective emission of the N II 5000A complex in the spectrum of the LMC hypergiant HDE 269896, ON9.7 Ia$^+$. Since this object also has anomalously strong He II $\lambda$4686 emission for its spectral type, an unusually…
BAT99-129 in the LMC is one among a handful of extra-galactic eclipsing Wolf-Rayet binaries known. We present blue, medium-resolution, phase-dependent NTT-EMMI spectra of this system that allow us to separate the spectra of the two…
Massive Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars dominate the radiative and mechanical energy budget of galaxies and probe a critical phase in the evolution of massive stars prior to core-collapse. It is not known whether core He-burning WR stars (classical…
We report the serendipitous discovery of a heavily reddened Wolf-Rayet star that we name WR142b. While photometrically monitoring a cataclysmic variable, we detected weak variability in a nearby field star. Low-resolution spectroscopy…
Wolf-Rayet stars (WRs) are evolved massive stars in the brief stage before they undergo core collapse. Not only are they rare, but they also can be particularly difficult to find due to the high extinction in the Galactic plane. This paper…
Aims. We present an in-depth study of the two components of the binary system LZCep in order to constrain the effects of binarity on the evolution of massive stars. Methods. We use a set of high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio…
We present here the analysis of an extensive set of high resolution optical spectra of Plaskett's star (HD 47129). We use a disentangling method to separate the individual spectra of each star. We derive a new orbital solution and discuss…
We present the discovery of OB type absorption lines superimposed to the emission line spectrum, and the first double-lined orbital elements for the massive Wolf-Rayet binary HDE 318016 (=WR 98), a spectroscopic binary in a circular orbit…
We report the results of a comprehensive study of the spectroscopic binary (SB2) system HD 34736 hosting two chemically peculiar (CP) late B-type stars. Using new and archival observational data, we characterise the system and its…
HD 327083 is a luminous B type star which exhibits emission lines and an infrared excess and is therefore classified as a supergiant B[e] star. In addition, the star is the primary of a close binary system. It is not clear whether the B[e]…
Using the latest stellar evolution models, theoretical stellar spectra, and a compilation of observed emission line strengths from Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, we construct evolutionary synthesis models for young starbursts. We explicitly…
Aims. HD166734 is an eccentric eclipsing binary system composed of two supergiant O-type stars, orbiting with a 34.5-day period. In this rare configuration for such stars, the two objects mainly evolve independently, following single-star…