Optical spectra of new WR stars and candidates

Spectroscopic follow-up observations of these candidates were conducted using the 2SPOT facilities in Chile and France, as well as 1-m C2PU's Epsilon telescope at the Calern Observatory. This paper focuses on the brighter sample. Among the 37 targets, we confirmed 17 and 16 new Galactic WC and WN type WR stars, respectively.

Three of them were recently reported as new WR stars in an independent study. The Gaia mission provides a valuable resource for uncovering WR stars missed in earlier surveys. While this work concentrated on a relatively small starting sample provided by the ESP-ELS algorithm, our findings highlight the potential for refining selection criteria to identify additional candidates not included in the outputs of the algorithm.

Furthermore, the observation program underscores the utility of small telescopes in acquiring initial spectral data for sources with magnitudes up to G~16mag.