Abstract

A Deep NIR Survey for Galactic Wolf-Rayet Stars

Graham Kanarek (Columbia University)

Michael Shara (AMNH), David Zurek (AMNH), Jackie Faherty (AMNH), Anthony Moffat (Université de Montréal), Laurent Drissen (Université Laval), Rene Doyon (Université de Montréal), Etienne Artigau (Gemini Observatory)

A massive NIR survey for WR stars in the Galactic plane has already contributed ~25% of the currently known Milky Way WR stars. A new method of image subtraction applied to the same images will increase these numbers by 50-100% in the next few months alone. The subtraction method for determining new candidates for spectroscopic confirmation will be discussed, including a preview of new spectra taken in June and July 2011.