The first optical spectra of Wolf-Rayet stars in M101 revealed with Gemini/GMOS

Deep narrow-band Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of the iconic spiral galaxyM101 has revealed over a thousand new Wolf–Rayet (WR) candidates. We report spectrographic confirmation of 10 He II-emission line sourceshosting 15 WR stars. We find WR starspresent at both sub- and super-solar metallicities with WC starsfavouring more metal-rich regions compared to WN stars. We investigate the association of WR starswith H II regionsusing archival HST imaging and conclude that the majority of WR starsare in or associated with H II regions. Of the 10 emission lines sources, only one appears to be unassociated with a star-forming region. Our spectroscopic survey provides confidence that our narrow-band photometric candidates are in fact bona fideWR stars, which will allow us to characterize the progenitors of any core-collapse supernovae that erupt in the future in M101.