Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the WR 38/WR 38a cluster

We are conducting a high angular resolution imaging survey of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars using the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We have found a small stellar cluster associated with the faint, close pair WR 38 and WR 38a. We present astrometric measurements and photometry in the wideband F336W (U), F439W (5), and F555W (V) filter system for the cluster and nearby stars. We combine our photometry with Johnson and IR magnitudes and compare the observations with calibrated model results for reddened stars to adjust the HST zero points and to identify five probable main-sequence members of the cluster. A least-squares fit of the colors and magnitudes of this set yields a cluster reddening of E(B - V) = 1.63 ±0.05 mag and a distance of 10 -4 +12 kpc for an assumed ratio of total to selective extinction of R = 3.1. We discuss the relationship of this cluster to other objects along the line of sight. If situated at a distance of ≈8 kpc, then the cluster would reside in a dense region of the Carina spiral arm, close to a giant molecular cloud and the starburst cluster NGC 3603.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

The puzzle of HD 104994 (WR 46)

Intense coordinated spectroscopic and photometric monitoring of the suspected Wolf-Rayet binary WR 46 in 1999 reveals clear periodic variations, P = 0.329 ± 0.013 days, in the radial velocities of the emission lines of highest ionization potential, O VI and N V, found deepest in the Wolf-Rayet wind and thus least likely to be perturbed by a companion. These are accompanied by coherent variability in the profiles of lines with lower ionization/excitation potential and in the continuum flux. Most probably originating from orbital motion of the Wolf-Rayet component of the binary, this periodic radial velocity signal disappears from time to time, thus creating a puzzle yet to be solved. We show that the entangled patterns of the line profile variability are mainly governed by transitions between high and low states of the system's continuum flux.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

The puzzle of HD 104994 (WR 46)

Intense coordinated spectroscopic and photometric monitoring of the suspected Wolf-Rayet binary WR 46 in 1999 reveals clear periodic variations, P = 0.329 ± 0.013 days, in the radial velocities of the emission lines of highest ionization potential, O VI and N V, found deepest in the Wolf-Rayet wind and thus least likely to be perturbed by a companion. These are accompanied by coherent variability in the profiles of lines with lower ionization/excitation potential and in the continuum flux. Most probably originating from orbital motion of the Wolf-Rayet component of the binary, this periodic radial velocity signal disappears from time to time, thus creating a puzzle yet to be solved. We show that the entangled patterns of the line profile variability are mainly governed by transitions between high and low states of the system's continuum flux.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the WR 38/WR 38a cluster

We are conducting a high angular resolution imaging survey of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars using the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We have found a small stellar cluster associated with the faint, close pair WR 38 and WR 38a. We present astrometric measurements and photometry in the wideband F336W (U), F439W (5), and F555W (V) filter system for the cluster and nearby stars. We combine our photometry with Johnson and IR magnitudes and compare the observations with calibrated model results for reddened stars to adjust the HST zero points and to identify five probable main-sequence members of the cluster. A least-squares fit of the colors and magnitudes of this set yields a cluster reddening of E(B - V) = 1.63 ±0.05 mag and a distance of 10 -4 +12 kpc for an assumed ratio of total to selective extinction of R = 3.1. We discuss the relationship of this cluster to other objects along the line of sight. If situated at a distance of ≈8 kpc, then the cluster would reside in a dense region of the Carina spiral arm, close to a giant molecular cloud and the starburst cluster NGC 3603.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

The puzzle of HD 104994 (WR 46)

Intense coordinated spectroscopic and photometric monitoring of the suspected Wolf-Rayet binary WR 46 in 1999 reveals clear periodic variations, P = 0.329 ± 0.013 days, in the radial velocities of the emission lines of highest ionization potential, O VI and N V, found deepest in the Wolf-Rayet wind and thus least likely to be perturbed by a companion. These are accompanied by coherent variability in the profiles of lines with lower ionization/excitation potential and in the continuum flux. Most probably originating from orbital motion of the Wolf-Rayet component of the binary, this periodic radial velocity signal disappears from time to time, thus creating a puzzle yet to be solved. We show that the entangled patterns of the line profile variability are mainly governed by transitions between high and low states of the system's continuum flux.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

The Long-term Spectral Changes of Eta Carinae: Are they Caused by a Dissipating Occulter as Indicated by cmfgen Models?

Eta Carinae ( • Car) exhibits a unique set of P Cygni profiles with both broad and narrow components. Over many decades, the spectrum has changed - there has been an increase in observed continuum fluxes and a decrease in Fe ii and H i emission-line equivalent widths. The spectrum is evolving toward that of a P Cygni star such as P Cygni itself and HDE 316285. The spectral evolution has been attributed to intrinsic variations such as a decrease in the mass-loss rate of the primary star or differential evolution in a latitudinal-dependent stellar wind. However, intrinsic wind changes conflict with three observational results: the steady long-term bolometric luminosity; the repeating X-ray light curve over the binary period; and the constancy of the dust-scattered spectrum from the Homunculus. We extend previous work that showed a secular strengthening of P Cygni absorptions by adding more orbital cycles to overcome temporary instabilities and by examining more atomic transitions. cmfgen modeling of the primary wind shows that a time-decreasing mass-loss rate is not the best explanation for the observations. However, models with a small dissipating absorber in our line of sight can explain both the increase in brightness and changes in the emission and P Cygni absorption profiles. If the spectral evolution is caused by the dissipating circumstellar medium, and not by intrinsic changes in the binary, the dynamical timescale to recover from the Great Eruption is much less than a century, different from previous suggestions

Dynamic Imprints of Colliding-wind Dust Formation from WR 140

Carbon-rich Wolf-Rayet (WR) binaries are a prominent source of carbonaceous dust that contribute to the dust budget of galaxies. The “textbook” example of an episodic dust-producing WR binary, WR 140 (HD 193793), provides us with an ideal laboratory for investigating the dust physics and kinematics in an extreme environment. This study is among the first to utilize two separate JWST observations, from Cycle 1 ERS (2022 July) and Cycle 2 (2023 September), to measure WR 140’s dust kinematics and confirm its morphology. To measure the proper motions and projected velocities of the dust shells, we performed a novel point-spread function (PSF) subtraction to reduce the effects of the bright diffraction spikes and carefully aligned the Cycle 2 to the Cycle 1 images. At 7.7 μm, through the bright feature common to 16 dust shells (C1), we find an average dust shell proper motion of 390 ± 29 mas yr−1, which equates to a projected velocity of 2714 ± 188 km s−1 at a distance of 1.64 kpc. Our measured speeds are constant across all visible shells and consistent with previously reported dust expansion velocities. Our observations not only prove that these dusty shells are astrophysical (i.e., not associated with any PSF artifact) and originate from WR 140, but also confirm the “clumpy” morphology of the dust shells, in which identifiable substructures within certain shells persist for at least 14 months from one cycle to the next. These results support the hypothesis that clumping in the wind collision region is required for dust production in WR binaries

Wolf-Rayet Stars with Compact Companions

Evidence is accumulating in favour of a heretofore missing link in the evolution of massive binary stars — a second WR phase in which the companion to the WR star is a neutron star of mass 1–2 M⊙, or in some cases a more massive black hole. The discovery of such objects is also important in assessing the role of duplicity in the formation of WR stars.</jats:p

Special session on HD 5980

On Monday before the regular meeting began, a group of 31 participants met for 5 hours to discuss HD 5980, a massive binary in which one of its components erupted in 1994 as a luminous blue variable (LBV). This made HD 5980 the most luminous star in all the SMC for about six months. The highlights of this session are presented here.</jats:p

Time-resolved optical-UV spectroscopy of colliding wind effects

It is in the ultraviolet-optical domain where the strongest known emission lines arise in hot star winds. In the case of hot-star binaries, culminating in the relatively common, strong-wind WR+O systems, similar line-emission is seen in the cooling flows downstream from the highly compressed, X-ray emitting heads of the bow shock regions produced when the two winds collide. Time-resolved UV-optical spectroscopy of these flows around a complete orbit can provide important constraints not only on the colliding wind process itself, but also on the winds and the orbit. Spectroscopic wind-wind collision effects have now been seen in every relatively close WR+O system (P ≲ 100 d) that has been adequately observed so far.</jats:p