Concept information
Preferred term
Wolf-Rayet star
Definition(s)
- A Wolf-Rayet star is a hot (25,000 to 50,000 K), massive (more than 25 solar masses), luminous star in an advanced stage of evolution, which is losing mass in the form a powerful stellar wind. Wolf-Rayets are believed to be O stars that have lost their hydrogen envelopes, leaving their helium cores exposed. Often occurring in binary systems, they are doomed, within a few million years, to explode as Type Ib or Ic supernovae. They are named after the French astronomers Charles Wolf (1827–1918) and Georges Rayet (1839–1906) who studied the first example in 1867. There are two spectral subclasses of Wolf-Rayets: type WN, which have prominent emission lines of helium and nitrogen, and type WC in which carbon, oxygen and helium lines dominate. (Encyclopedia of Science, by David Darling, https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/WolfRayet.html)
Broader concept(s)
Synonym(s)
- WR star
In other languages
-
French
URI
http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/MDL-FJWW29J2-6
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