Accurate Abundances Determination of Planetary Nebulae

Accurate chemical abundances for the following planetary nebulae (PNe); NGC 6537, He 2-111, NGC 6302, NGC 6445, NGC 6741, NGC 7027, NGC 7662, NGC 2440 and NGC 5315 have been derived using data from the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE). Optical data from the literature has also been used. These work has been published by Pottasch et al. (2001), Bernard Salas et al. (2001 and 2002). In particular, the use of the ISO data has reduced the need for ionization correction factors. Furthermore, infrared data avoid or reduce many problems when deriving these abundances, namely: temperature fluctuations in the nebula, and extinction corrections. The electron temperature (Te) and density of the PNe has been derived. For those PNe in which the Te has been derived for several ions a trend with the ionization potential is present. Ions with high stages of ionization give higher Te, probably because they are formed close to the central star. The chemical abundances measured in these PNe give some hint of the nucleosynthesis and mixing processes experienced by their progenitor stars. In this view, a preliminary comparison with synthetic TP-AGB models is made (Bernard Salas et al. (in prep.)). NGC 7027, NGC 6741, NGC 2440, and NGC 6445 are consistent with the occurrence of the 3rd dredge-up due to both C12 and He4 enrichment. NGC 6537, NGC 6302, and He 2-111 are likely to have stellar progenitors experiencing hot bottom burning due to the low C12 and high N14 abundances.

Near-IR emission line imaging of PN

Spatial studies of the emission line regions in planetary nebulae (PN) can provide insight into the physical and chemical environments across the nebulae. In a collaborative effort by the coauthors, a K-band Fabry-Perot etalon has been coupled with an advanced 256 × 256 InSb focal plane array at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory 2.3m telescope. This system permits us to obtain spatially resolved, 0.24″/pixel, moderate spectral resolution (R ≈ 800), flux-density IR emission line images of astronomical sources. We obtained continuum-subtracted images of Br γ, HeI 2.06 μm, the 2-μm UIR features, and the 3.3 μm PAH dust feature in the PN NGC 6572, NGC 7027, and NGC 7662. One objective was to determine the spatial morphology of two unidentified emission lines, UIR1−2.199 μm, and UIR2−2.287 μm (Geballe et al. 1991). These UIR lines appear in the spectra of many PN (Hora et al. 1997) and in the Orion Nebula (Luhman & Rieke 1996). Geballe et al. suggested that the UIR lines are most likely forbidden transitions and showed that the parent ion ionization potential is ≈ 30–40 eV, while the ionization potential for the ions themselves is 40–60 eV. Here we directly compare the distribution of the UIR emitters to that of the gas (H+,He+) and dust (PAHs).

Multiwavelength kinematics of the PNe Humason 1–2 and NGC 7662

The conventional interpretation of the “Wilson effect”is based on the fact that, in a simple photoionization model of a thick shell in free expansion, the elements with a high ionization potential are found in the innermost part of the shell, which move slower than the outer regions where the low ionization ions are located. A real PN is however a much more complex object than in the picture above. For these reasons, we are carrying on a project aimed at studying in detail the Wilson effect in a large number of objects of different types. We present here preliminary results for two PNe, the bipolar nebula Hu 1-2 and the elliptical NGC 7662. Observation have been secured with the Utrecht Echelle Spectrograph placed at 4.2m William Herschel Telescope, (La Palma, Canary Islands). The spatial resolution is 0.36 arcsec, and the resolving power R=46000. The results are presented in Table 1. The increase of expansion velocity with decreasing potential is clearly seen except for Hydrogen. This ion is a quite peculiar case: although its ionization potential is quite low, this element behaves also as a high excitation atom since it has only one possible ionized state. Futhermore, as we have spatial resolution we can study this relation between velocity and ionization potential in different points of the nebula.