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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2017
Mass loss from hot stars was first established by Morton (1967). He observed 3 OB supergiants, δ, ε and ζ Orionis, with an ultraviolet spectrograph sent up with a rocket. In the wavelength range of 1200 A to 2000 A he observed 6 resonance lines of highly ionized atoms such as C III, C IV, N V and Si IV. These resonance lines showed a P Cygni type line profile with an absorption component displaced to the blue corresponding to a velocity away from the stars of 1400 km s−1. Since the escape velocity from these stars is about 800 km s−1 these observations indicated the loss of mass from the stars. With rather simple assumptions he deduced a mass loss from the stars of 1 to 3 10−6 M⊙ yr−1. In spite of many more refined satellite observations and interpretations, the accepted value for mass loss from these stars has not changed by more than a factor of 2 or 3.