2011/12/12 by Guy S. Stringfellow, G. S. Stringfellow, Stringfellow, G. S. +6
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1112.2686
3 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the conference proceedings "Four Decades of Research on Massive Stars: A Scientific Meeting in Honour of Anthony F. J. Moffat", Laurent Drissen, Nicole St-Louis, Carmelle Robert, and Anthony F.J. Moffat, eds
arxiv created 2011/12/12 · openalex publication_date 2011/12/12 · arxiv updated 2011/12/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We have undertaken a near-IR spectral survey of stars associated with compact nebulae recently revealed by the Spitzer and WISE imaging surveys. These circumstellar nebulae, produced by massive evolved stars, display a variety of symmetries and shapes and are often only evident at mid-IR wavelengths. Stars associated with ~50 of these nebulae have been observed. We also obtained recent spectra of previously confirmed (known) luminous blue variables (LBVs) and candidate LBVs (cLBVs). The spectral similarity of the stars observed when compared directly to known LBVs and Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars indicate many are newly identified cLBVs, with a few being newly discovered WR stars, mostly of WN8-9h spectral type. These results suggest that a large population of previously unidentified cLBVs and related transitional stars reside in the Galaxy and confirm that circumstellar nebulae are inherent to most (c)LBVs.