2025/02/13 by Fesen, Robert A., Patnaude, Daniel, Wang, Wei-Hao +7 · 1 citation
#Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2502.08931
We report the results of deep Hα and [O III] images of the bright WN6/WC4 Wolf-Rayet star WR~8 (HD~62910). These data show considerably more surrounding nebulosity than seen in prior imaging. The brighter portions of the nebula span ≃6' in diameter and exhibit considerable fine-scale structure including numerous emission clumps and bright head-tail like features presumably due to the effects of the WR star's stellar winds. Due to the overlap of a relatively bright band of unrelated foreground diffuse interstellar Hα emission, WR~8's nebula is best viewed via its [O III] emission. A faint 9' × 13' diffuse outer nebulosity is detected surrounding the nebula's main ring of emission. Comparison of the nebula's optical structure with that seen in WISE 22 μm data shows a similarly clumpy structure but in a better defined emission shell of thermal continuum from dust. The infrared shell is coincident with the nebula's southern [O III] emissions but is mainly seen in the fainter outer portions of the northern [O III] emission clumps. It is this greater radial distance of dust emission in the nebula's northern areas that leads to a striking off-center position of the WR star in the IR shell.