Abstract

Surveys for Wolf-Rayet Stars in the Galaxy and the Local Group

Michael Shara (AMNH)

Michael Shara American Museum of Natural History

Finding and characterizing complete samples of Wolf-Rayet stars in the Milky Way and in nearby galaxies has been a passion of Tony Moffat for four decades. One of those stars might erupt as a supernova in our lifetimes if we can assemble a large enough sample. I'll describe an intensive effort to find almost all of the Milky Way's WR stars, and the current census of the Local Group.