Spectroscopy of Massive Stars

Abstract

Although rare, massive stars, being the main sources of ionizing radiation, chemical enrichment and mechanical energy in the Galaxy, are the most important objects of the stellar population. This review presents the many different aspects of the main tool used to study these stars, i.e. spectroscopy. The first part consists in an introduction on these objects and their physical properties (mass, wind, evolution, relation with their environment). Next, the spectral behaviour of single massive stars is investigated, in the visible as well as in the X-ray domain. Finally, the last part of this paper deals with massive binaries, especially those exhibiting a colliding wind phenomenon.