Winds of Luminous OB Stars

Abstract

We review the historical development of observations of mass loss from hot, luminous stars, and sketch the physical principles underlying the theory of radiatively-driven stellar winds. The theory makes predictions which are shown to be in general accord with the data. We summarize recent results, primarily from the IUE satellite, which demonstrate the importance of time-dependent phenomena in hot-star outflows, and which, in particular, point to effects related to rotational modulation.