An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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A new type of → Wolf-Rayet stars found in the → Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). These stars have both strong → emission lines, as well as → He II lines and → Balmer lines in absorption and spectroscopically resemble a → WN3 and → O3V binary pair. However, they are visually too faint to be WN3+O3 V → binary systems. So far nine WN3/O3 types have been detected, making up ~ 6% of the population of LMC WRs. Their temperatures are estimated to be around 100,000 K, a bit hotter than the majority of → WN Wolf-Rayet stars (by around 10,000 K) although a few hotter WNs are known. The abundances are what you would expect for → CNO equilibrium. However, most anomalous are their → mass-loss rates which are more like that of an → O star than a WN star. While their evolutionary status is uncertain, their low mass-loss rates and → wind velocities suggest that they are not products of homogeneous evolution. It is possible instead that these stars represent an intermediate stage between O stars and WNs. Since WN3/O3 stars are unknown in the Milky Way, their formation would depend upon → metallicity (Neugent et al., 2017, arxiv:1704.05497).

→ WN3; → O3; → star.

A → WN Wolf-Rayet star whose spectrum shows the following emission line characteristics: N IV 3479-3484, 4058 Å about N V 3479-3484, 4058 Å and N III 4634-4641, 5314 Å weak or absent.

W, from → Wolf-Rayet; N, from → nitrogen; → star.

A → WN Wolf-Rayet star whose spectrum shows the following emission line characteristics: N IV 3479-3484, 4058 Å stronger than N V 3479-3484, 4058 Å and N III 4634-4641, 5314 Å weak or absent.

W, from → Wolf-Rayet; N, from → nitrogen; → star.

A → WN Wolf-Rayet star whose spectrum shows the following emission line characteristics: N III 4634-4641, 5314 Å as strong as N IV 3479-3484, 4058 Å as strong as N V 3479-3484, 4058 Å.

W, from → Wolf-Rayet; N, from → nitrogen; → star.

A → WN Wolf-Rayet star whose spectrum shows the following emission line characteristics: N III 4634-4641, 5314 Å about N IV 3479-3484, 4058 Å and N V 3479-3484, 4058 Å present, but weak.

W, from → Wolf-Rayet; N, from → nitrogen; → star.

A → WNh type → Wolf-Rayet (→ WN6 star) with → absorption lines in its spectrum that have not been attributed to the presence of a → companion. For example → NGC 3603-A1.

The letter "a" indicating → absorption; → WNh type.

A → WN Wolf-Rayet star whose spectrum shows the following emission line characteristics: N III 4634-4641, 5314 Å stronger than N IV 3479-3484, 4058 Å, N III weaker than He II 4686 Å, He I weak with → P Cygni profile.

W, from → Wolf-Rayet; N, from → nitrogen; → star.

A → WN Wolf-Rayet star whose spectrum shows the following emission line characteristics: N III 4634-4641, 5314 Å very stronger than N IV 3479-3484, 4058 Å, N III about He II 4686 Å, and He I with → P Cygni profile.

W, from → Wolf-Rayet; N, from → nitrogen; → star.

A → WN Wolf-Rayet star whose spectrum shows the following emission line characteristics: N III 4634-4641, 5314 Å stronger than N II 3995 Å, N IV 3479-3484, 4058 Å absent, He I with → P Cygni profile.

W, from → Wolf-Rayet; N, from → nitrogen; → star.

In theoretical models, a → Wolf-Rayet star without hydrogen at its surface (< 10^-5 in number) and with surface carbon abundance smaller than nitrogen abundance.

W short for Wolf-Rayet star, N for → nitrogen, E for early.

A → WN Wolf-Rayet star which is hydrogen rich. WNh stars are initially more massive and have lost relatively little mass compared to other WR stars. It is suggested that these types are core hydrogen burning → main sequence objects. The most massive stars currently known are all WNh stars rather than O-type main sequence stars.

WN, from → WN Wolf-Rayet; h, from → hydrogen.

In theoretical models, a → Wolf-Rayet star with hydrogen at its surface (> 10^-5 in number). A star enters the Wolf-Rayet phase as a WNL, then may evolve through the sequence WNL → WNE, → WC, → WO. It can end its evolution at any of these stages.

W short for Wolf-Rayet star, N for → nitrogen, L for late.

A → Wolf-Rayet star whose spectrum shows emission lines of carbon and strong emission lines of oxygen O VI 3811-34 Å. In theoretical models, a W-R star whose carbon abundance at surface is larger than nitrogen abundance and has the abundance ratio (C + O) / He > 1 (in number).

W short for Wolf-Rayet star, O for → oxygen.

An oxygen-rich → Wolf-Rayet star whose spectrum shows the following emission line characteristics: No O IV 3400 Å, strong O VI 3811-34 Å, O V 5572-98 Å about or stronger than C IV 5801-12 Å, no C III 5696 Å.

W, from → Wolf-Rayet; O, from → oxygen; → star.

An oxygen-rich → Wolf-Rayet star whose spectrum shows the following emission line characteristics: No O IV 3400 Å, strong O VI 3811-34 Å, O V 5572-98 Å weaker than C IV 5801-12 Å, no C III 5696 Å.

W, from → Wolf-Rayet; O, from → oxygen; → star.

1a) To incline to one side and to the other alternately, as a wheel, top, or other rotating body when not properly balanced.
1b) To move unsteadily from side to side; vacillate; waver.
2) A wobbling movement (Dictionary.com).

Probably from Low Ger. wabbeln "to wobble;" cognate with O.N. vafla "hover about, totter," related to vafra "move unsteadily."

Palâpel "wobbling, unsteady motion" in štiyâni dialect, variant in colloquial Persian pilipili, pelpel (pilipili raftan, pilipili xordan).

A 70-year period of unusually low → solar activity, from about 1280 to 1350. See also the → Maunder minimum.

→ Wolf number; → minimum.

A number indicating the degree of → sunspot  → activity. Same as → sunspot number and → relative sunspot number.

Named after Johann Rudolf Wolf of Zurich who introduced the number in 1852; → number.

A → dwarf irregular galaxy that is a remote and rather isolated member of the → Local Group. Also known as DDO 221 and LEDA 143. It is a dim galaxy located in the constellation → Cetus, about three million → light-years from the → Milky Way. Its nearest neighbor, the → dwarf galaxy IC 1613, is one million light-years away. Quite elongated, with a largest extension of more than 8,000 light-years, WLM is about 12 times smaller than the Milky Way, a measurement that includes a → halo of extremely → old stars. WLM has a → metallicity only about one-tenth that of the Milky Way.

Named after astronomer Max Wolf (1863-1932), who discovered the galaxy in 1909, and astronomers Knut Lundmark (1889-1958) and Philibert Jacques Melotte (1880-1961), who identified it as a galaxy some fifteen years later.

A subset of → starburst galaxies whose integrated spectra show broad emission features attributed to the presence of hundreds to thousands → Wolf-Rayet stars. The most massive stars formed in the burst evolve rapidly into a substantial population of Wolf-Rayet stars in aggregations of ionized gas.

→ Wolf-Rayet star; → galaxy.