2000A&A...353..715O

The Wolf-Rayet binary system γ²Vel (WR 11) is the closest known Wolf-Rayet (WR) star. Recently, its distance has been redetermined by parallax measurements with the HIPPARCOS astrometric satellite yielding 258⁺⁴¹_–31pc, significantly lower than previous estimates (300-450pc). Wolf-Rayet stars have been proposed as a major source of the Galactic ²⁶Al observed at 1.809MeV. The gamma-ray telescope COMPTEL has previously reported 1.8MeV emission from the Vela region, yet located closer to the Galactic plane than the position of γ²Vel. We derive an upper 1.8MeV flux limit of 1.1x10^–5γ/cm²/s (2σ) for the WR star. With the new distance estimate, COMPTEL measurements place a limit of (6.3^+2.1_–1.4)10^–5M_☉on the ²⁶Al yield of γ²Vel, thus constrains theories of nucleosynthesis in Wolf-Rayet stars. We discuss the implications in the context of the binary nature of γ²Vel and present a new interpretation of the IRAS Vela shell.