A near–infrared survey for Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars

¹ European Southern Observatory, Karl Schwarzschild Str. 2, Garching bei Muenchen, Germany
² University of Wisconsin-Madison, Astronomy Department, 475N Charter St., Madison, WI 53706, USA
³ Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile
⁴ JILA and APS Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 8030, USA
⁵ Instituto Astronomico y Geophísico, São Paulo, Brazil

Corresponding author: N. Homeier, nhomeier@eso.org

Received: 12 September 2002
Accepted: 22 October 2002

Abstract

Initial results, techniques, and rationale for a near–infrared survey of evolved emission–line stars towards the Galactic Center are presented. We use images taken through narrow-band emission–line and continuum filters to select candidates for spectroscopic follow–up. The filters are optimized for the detection of Wolf-Rayet stars and other objects that exhibit emission–lines in the 2 μm region. Approximately three square degrees along the Galactic plane have been analyzed in seven narrow filters (four emission lines and three continuum). Four new Wolf–Rayet stars have been found and are the subject of a following paper.