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Wolf-Rayet star

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Wolf-Rayet star: see spectral class spectral class, in astronomy, a classification of the stars by their spectrum and luminosity. In 1885, E. C. Pickering began the first extensive attempt to classify the stars spectroscopically.
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Wolf-Rayet star [¦vȯlf rī¦ā ‚stär]
(astronomy)
A member of a class of very hot stars (100,000-35,000 K) which characteristically show broad bright emission lines in their spectra; luminosities are high, probably in the range 104-105times that of the sun; these stars are probably very young and represent an early short-lived stage in stellar evolution.


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This Wolf-Rayet star in Cygnus is an archetypal colliding wind binary system, the interaction between the powerful winds generated by the WR and O type stars being a subject of interest for astronomers working at wavelengths from radio to X-ray.
The more massive is a Wolf-Rayet star and may weigh more than 50 times the mass of our Sun.
Also highlighted are hydrogen-deficient stars in close binary systems, and massive Wolf-Rayet stars and their relation to Type I supernovae and Gamma-ray bursts.
 
 
 
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