2WoRLDS

2WoRLDS, The 2MASS Wolf-Rayet Line Detection Survey is a dedicated imaging and spectroscopic campaign aimed at discovering new populations of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in the Galaxy. The 2MASS color-color diagram of roughly 1/2 billion stars in the galactic plane shows how WR stars (red and blue) separate roughly from the main body of the reddened dwarf and giant sequence.

Since they are so rare (~200 known in the Galaxy), this broad-band color separation is not enough to discriminate them from the much more common planetary nebulae, young stellar objects, and carbon stars which inhabit the same region of color space. To overcome this difficulty, we're conducting a narrow-band line survey in the K-band (~2.0μm) targeted at the broad wind-based emission lines which characterize the WR emission spectrum.

See the following for more detail:

• A description of the project targeted at undergraduates.
• A page on the reduction of 2WoRLDS data.

Last modified: Wed Nov 24 15:32:33 MST 2004