Massive Stars with Circumstellar Shells Discovered with the Spitzer Space Telescope
PAC, California Institute of Technology, Pasasdena, USA
Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasasdena, USA
Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasasdena, USA
Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasasdena, USA
NASA Herschel Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasasdena, USA
Abstract
We report on our ongoing efforts to characterize the luminous central stars of circumstellar shell sources discovered with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The objects in our selection are highly symmetric, circular and elliptical shells, most prominent at 24 micrometers, and the vast majority of the shells and central sources has never been studied previously. We obtained near-IR spectroscopic observations of the central stars and find the overwhelming number of these objects to be massive stars, including new Wolf Rayet stars and Luminous Blue Variable candidates.