New Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars, and candidates. An annex to The VIIth Catalogue of Galactic Wolf-Rayet Stars

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and cataloging of 72 new Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars and 17 candidates, expanding the known population and providing updated statistics on their distribution in clusters.

Contribution

It introduces a significant update to the catalog of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars with new discoveries and candidates since the previous major catalog.

Findings

Total known Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars increased to 298

8% of Wolf-Rayet stars are in Westerlund 1 cluster

20% are located near the Galactic Center

Abstract

This paper gathers, from the literature and private communication, 72 new Galactic Population I Wolf-Rayet stars and 17 candidate WCLd stars, recognized and/or discovered after the publication of The VIIth Catalogue of Galactic Wolf-Rayet Stars. This brings the total number of known Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars to 298, of which 24 (8%) are in open cluster Westerlund 1, and 60 (20%) are in open clusters near the Galactic Center.