Wolf-Rayet star

Wolf-Rayet stars (often referred to as WR stars) are evolved, hot, massive stars, that have very strong stellar winds. Wolf-Rayet stars are a normal stage in the evolution of massive stars, in which strong, broad emission lines of helium and nitrogen ("WN" sequence) or helium, carbon, and nitrogen ("WC" sequence) are visible. Because of their strong emission lines, they are relatively easy to identify in nearby galaxies. About 150 Wolf-Rayets are known in our own Milky Way Galaxy, and about 100 are known in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Only 12 have been identified in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Wolf-Rayet stars were discovered spectroscopically in 1867 by the French astronomers Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet using a visual spectrometery at Paris Observatory.

Related Topics:
Large Magellanic Cloud - Small Magellanic Cloud - Charles Wolf - Georges Rayet

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A recent campaign to image several Wolf-Rayet binaries at high resolution has found ones are surrounded by pinwheel nebulae, with dust created by the interaction of winds in a close binary system.

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