Letter to the Editor

VLT observations of the highly ionized nebula around Brey2^*

¹ Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août 17, Bât. B5c, 4000 Liège, Belgium
² Astronomy Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1002 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Corresponding author: Y. Nazé, naze@astro.ulg.ac.be

Received: 6 January 2003
Accepted: 20 February 2003

Abstract

We present the first high resolution He ii  λ4686 images of the high excitation nebula around the WR star Brey2 in the LMC. This nebula presents a striking morphology: a small arc-like feature some 3.6 pc in radius is particularly prominent in the He ii  λ4686 line. We further discover a previously unknown faint He ii emission that extends over an area of  pc². An even fainter He ii emission is apparently associated with the interstellar bubble blown by the progenitor of Brey2. The total He ii flux corresponds to an ionizing flux of  photons s^-1. Hα, [O iii], and He i  λ5876 images and long-slit spectra are also examined in this letter, enabling us to investigate the detailed physical properties at various locations of the nebula.