Wolf-Rayet Star Catalogue Galactic Wolf Rayet Catalogue v1.28 (Gaia DR3), 669 WR stars, Jun 2023




  • Nomenclature for stars discovered before VIIth Catalogue (incl Annex)

  • All WR identifications up to 7th Catalogue/Annex remain unchanged since many are in widespread usage in the literature (e.g. WR20, WR20a).

  • Nomenclature for stars discovered after VIIth Catalogue (incl Annex)

  • All subsequent discoveries are switched from alphabetical (WRXXa, b) to numerical (WRXX-1, -2) identification, sorted by year/month of discovery, in RA order if multiple discoveries arise from a single source. By way of example, three WR stars have been discovered since 2006 between the RAs of WR20 and WR21. The first (discovered by Mauerhan et al. 2011) is assigned WR20-1, while two further discoveries (from Roman-Lopez et al. 2011) are assigned WR20-2 and -3 (RA ordered).
  • Since a few journal papers have referred to recently discovered stars using the former alphabetical scheme it is intended to retain such aliases for discoveries up to the end of 2012 (WR20aa for WR20-2, WR20c for WR20-3), but recommend adoption of the numerical scheme in the literature in the future.
  • Multiple WR stars identified within a single source are indicated with CAPITAL letters (e.g. WR43a, b, c -> WR43A, B, C).

  • Recommendations submitted to OC for IAU Working Group for Massive Stars in Dec 2012

  • Paul Crowther, Wolf-Rainer Hamann, Ian Howarth, Karel van der Hucht, Gregor Rauw. Scheme implemented in Appendix A of Rosslowe & Crowther (2015)