Imaging ``Pinwheel'' nebulae with optical long-baseline interferometry
Abstract
Dusty Wolf-Rayet stars are few but remarkable in terms of dust production rates (up to Ṁ = 10-6 Msolar/yr). Infrared excesses associated to mass-loss are found in the sub-types WC8 and WC9. Few WC9d stars are hosting a ``pinwheel'' nebula, indirect evidence of a companion star around the primary. While few other WC9d stars have a dust shell which has been barely resolved so far, the available angular resolution offered by single telescopes is insufficient to confirm if they also host ``pinwheel'' nebulae or not. In this article, we present the possible detection of such nebula around the star WR 118. We discuss about the potential of interferometry to image more ``pinwheel'' nebulae around other WC9d stars.
- Publication:
-
Active OB Stars: Structure, Evolution, Mass Loss, and Critical Limits
- Pub Date:
- July 2011
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1011.3394
- Bibcode:
- 2011IAUS..272..408M
- Keywords:
-
- techniques: high angular resolution;
- techniques: interferometric;
- binaries (including multiple): close;
- stars: individual (WR 118);
- stars: winds;
- outflows;
- stars: Wolf-Rayet;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- To be published soon in the conference proceeding