Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
In principle radio observations of WR stars offer the best possibility of determining the rate of mass loss, since for a simple model of the extended atmosphere the mass loss rate depends primarily on quantities—the flux density, the velocity, and the distance—which are observable (Barlow 1979). Until now, detections of Wolf-Rayet stars have been limited by the sensitivity and resolution of available telescopes. The advent of the Very Large Array makes a search for emission from a large number of these stars feasible.