An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A small class of evolved → massive stars showing spectral properties intermediate between those of → Of star and → WN Wolf-Rayet stars. Several of them have been found to possess non-spherical nitrogen-rich circumstellar nebulae. Ofpe/WN9 stars are considered to be transition objects between Of and W-R stars. This type of stars was first identified by Walborn (1982), who introduced the classification Ofpe/WN9, indicating that the stars could not be classified solely as Of stars, nor as WNL stars. Ofpe/WN9 stars have been found in the → Milky Way, the → Large Magellanic Cloud, → M31, and M33. Currently 10 Ofpe/WN9 stars are known in the LMC. Observational evidence suggests a close relationship between the class of → LBVs and the Ofpe/WN9 stars. A notable example is the prototype Ofpe/WN9 star R127 in the LMC that became an LBV on a time-scale of the order of a year. The possibility of such a relationship has been explored by Smith et al. (1994), who proposed that some LBVs show spectral morphologies that make them appear as an extension of the WN sequence toward later spectral types. Hence, they reclassified Ofpe/WN9 stars as WN10-11.

See also: Ofpe, from → Of star; p for “peculiar;” e refers to the presence of other emission lines in addition to the Of ones, mainly H and He I, although also Si III. This peculiar class in the LMC was first described by Walborn (1977, ApJ 215, 53), where
he called them “O Iafpe extr” based on the most similar Galactic objects known at that time. Subsequently Walborn (1983, ApJ 256, 452) and Bohannan & Walborn
(1989, PASP 101, 520) suggested an extension of the WN sequence and/or transition between Of and WN.
This nomenclature Ofpe/WN9 has been rather widely adopted. Later on, Smith et al. (1994) broke the Ofpe/WN9 and related Galactic types into WN10-11 subtypes to include this group of emission line stars.