Mass-Loss Rates for Massive Stars from Stellar Bowshocks III
Abstract
Spectra of massive stars are useful tools in determining the mass-loss rates of late O and early B type stars with strong winds. However, predicted mass-loss rates and those determined using ultraviolet spectroscopy can differ by two orders of magnitude when weak winds are present. Using far-infrared images of stellar wind bowshock nebulae in conjunction with the principle of balancing the momentum flux between the stellar wind and the interstellar material, we avoid the "weak-wind problem", and can measure the mass-loss rates of these stars without discrepancies that occur between theoretically and observationally derived mass-loss rates. Optical Spectra of OB stars were obtained from the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) 2.3 m and the Apache Point Observatory (APO) 3.5 m telescopes using the long-slit spectrographs. Temperatures and surface gravities were determined by fitting model stellar atmospheres to the spectra and used with the stars' proper motions and space velocities to calculate their mass-loss rates. Results from some of the stars observed are discussed here. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under REU grant AST 1852289.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #243
- Pub Date:
- February 2024
- Bibcode:
- 2024AAS...24340803A