Population I Wolf-Rayet Runaway Stars: the Case of WR124 and its Expanding Nebula M1-67

Abstract

In 1997 and 2008 we used the WFPC2 camera on board of the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain two sets of narrow-band H$\alpha$ images of the runaway Wolf-Rayet (WR) star WR 124 surrounded by its nebula M1-67. This two-epoch imaging provides an expansion parallax and thus a practically assumption-free geometric distance to the nebula, d=3.35 +/- 0.67 kpc. Combined with the global velocity distribution in the ejected nebula, this confirms the extreme runaway status of WR 124. WR stars embedded within such ejection nebulae, at the point of core-collapse would produce different supernova characteristics from those expected for stars surrounded by wind-filled cavities. In galaxies with extremely low ambient metallicity, Z <= 10^{-3} Z_Sun, gamma-ray bursts originating from fast-moving runaway WR stars may produce afterglows which appear to be coming from regions with a relatively homogeneous circumburst medium.

13 pages, 2 figures; accepted by ApJL

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Cited by in corpus (13)

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• Spatial distribution of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars and implications for the global population
• Unlocking Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars with $\text{Gaia}$ DR2 I: Distances and absolute magnitudes
• The planetary nebula Abell 48 and its [WN] nucleus
• IC 4663: The first unambiguous [WN] Wolf-Rayet central star of a planetary nebula
• On the apparent absence of WR+NS systems: the curious case of WR124
• On the bipolarity of Wolf-Rayet nebulae
• Herschel observations of the nebula M1-67 around the Wolf-Rayet star WR 124
• Integral field spectroscopy of M1-67. A Wolf-Rayet nebula with LBVN appearance
• Dust in the Wolf-Rayet Nebula M1-67
• The carbon-rich type Ic supernova 2016adj in the iconic dust lane of Centaurus A: signatures of interaction with circumstellar hydrogen?
• 3D mapping of the Wolf-Rayet nebula M1-67: clues for post-common envelope evolution in massive stars