A Lifetime of Influence: Abstracts, Talks, and Posters
 

The VLT-FLAMES Survey of Massive Stars

Daniel Lennon
Space Telescope Science Institute

Chris Evans
Astronomy Technology Centre Edinburgh

Stephen Smartt
The Queen's University of Belfast

Ian Hunter
The Queen's University of Belfast

Carrie Trundle
The Queen's University of Belfast

Alex de Koter
University of Amsterdam

Rohied Mokiem
OC&C Strategy Consultants

Norbert Langer
University of Utrecht

Philip Dufton
The Queen's University of Belfast

Artemio Herrero
Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias

Joachim Puls
Univeristaets-Sternwarte Munich

Ines Brott
University of Utrecht

Jorick Vink
Armagh Observatory

The VLT-FLAMES Survey of Massive Stars was an ESO Large Programme focused on understanding the role of rotational mixing and stellar mass loss on stellar evolution in environments of differing metallicity. Using VLT-FLAMES, the first high-resolution wide-field multi-object spectrograph on an 8-m telescope, we acquired high-quality spectra of over 800 stars in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. We developed spectral analysis techniques that, in combination with non-LTE, line-blanketed model atmospheres, were used to quantitatively characterise every star. The large sample, combined with the theoretical developments, has produced exciting new insights and raised important questions into the evolution of the most massive stars in the areas of; rotational mixing, metallicity dependence of stellar rotational velocities, intrinsic rotational velocity distributions, and the metallicity dependence of mass-loss rates of massive stars.