Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:10:30.759Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Westerlund 1 is a Galactic Treasure Chest: The Wolf-Rayet Stars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

C. K. Rosslowe
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield email: [email protected]
P. A. Crowther
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The Westerlund 1 Galactic cluster hosts an eclectic mix of coeval massive stars. At a modest distance of 4–5 kpc, it offers a unique opportunity to study the resolved stellar content of a young (~5 Myr) high mass (5·104M) star cluster. With the aim of testing single-star evolutionary predictions, and revealing any signatures of binary evolution, we discuss on-going analyses of NTT/SOFI near-IR spectroscopy of Wolf-Rayet stars in Westerlund 1. We find that late WN stars are H-poor compared to their counterparts in the Milky Way field, and nearly all are less luminous than predicted by single-star Geneva isochrones at the age of Westerlund 1.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2015 

References

Clark, J. S., Negueruela, I., Crowther, P. A., & Goodwin, S. P. 2005, A&A 434, 949Google Scholar
Crowther, P. A., Hadfield, L. J., Clark, J. S., Negueruela, I., & Vacca, W. D. 2006, MNRAS 372, 1407Google Scholar
Ekström, S., Georgy, C., Eggenberger, P., et al. 2012, A&A 537, A146Google Scholar
Eldridge, J. J., Izzard, R. G., & Tout, C. A. 2008, MNRAS 384, 1109CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillier, D. J. & Miller, D. L. 1998, ApJ 496, 407Google Scholar
Howarth, I. D. 1983, MNRAS 203, 301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, F. R. N., Izzard, R. G., de Mink, S. E., et al. 2014, ApJ 780, 117Google Scholar