A NEAR-INFRARED SURVEY OF THE INNER GALACTIC PLANE FOR WOLF-RAYET STARS. II. GOING FAINTER: 71 MORE NEW W-R STARS
- American Museum of Natural History, 79th Street and Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5192 (United States)
- Departement de Physique, Universite de Montreal, CP 6128, Succ. C-V, Montreal, QC, H3C 3J7 (Canada)
- Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1173 (United States)
- Departement de Physique, Universite Laval, Pavillon Vachon, Quebec City, QC, G1K 7P4 (Canada)
We are continuing a J, K and narrowband imaging survey of 300 deg{sup 2} of the plane of the Galaxy, searching for new Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars. Our survey spans 150 Degree-Sign in Galactic longitude and reaches 1 Degree-Sign above and below the Galactic plane. The survey has a useful limiting magnitude of K = 15 over most of the observed Galactic plane, and K = 14 (due to severe crowding) within a few degrees of the Galactic center. Thousands of emission-line candidates have been detected. In spectrographic follow-ups of 146 relatively bright W-R star candidates, we have re-examined 11 previously known WC and WN stars and discovered 71 new W-R stars, 17 of type WN and 54 of type WC. Our latest image analysis pipeline now picks out W-R stars with a 57% success rate. Star subtype assignments have been confirmed with the K-band spectra and distances approximated using the method of spectroscopic parallax. Some of the new W-R stars are among the most distant known in our Galaxy. The distribution of these new W-R stars is beginning to trace the locations of massive stars along the distant spiral arms of the Milky Way.
- OSTI ID:
- 22034441
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 143, Issue 6; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
RED EYES ON WOLF-RAYET STARS: 60 NEW DISCOVERIES VIA INFRARED COLOR SELECTION
The distribution of massive stars in the Galaxy. I - The Wolf-Rayet stars