SPITZER 24 {mu}m IMAGES OF PLANETARY NEBULAE

Journal Article · Sat Aug 15 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/138/2/691; COUNTRY OF INPUT: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)· OSTI ID:21301656

Chu, Y -H; Gruendl, Robert A; Bilikova, Jana; Caulet, Adeline ^[1]; Guerrero, Martin A ^[2]; Su, Kate Y. L. ^[3]; Cohen, Martin ^[4]; Parker, Quentin A ^[5]; Volk, Kevin ^[6]; Chen, W -P ^[7]; Hora, Joseph L ^[8]; Rauch, Thomas ^[9]

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1. Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1002 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States)
2. Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, CSIC. c/ Camino Bajo de Huetor 50, E-18008 Granada (Spain)
3. Stewart Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
4. Radio Astronomy Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
5. Department of Physics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109 (Australia)
6. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
7. Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Chung-Li, Taiwan (China)
8. Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS 65, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
9. Institut fuer Astronomie und Astrophysik Tuebingen (IAAT), Abteilung Astronomie, Sand 1, D-72076 Tuebingen (Germany)

Spitzer MIPS 24 {mu}m images were obtained for 36 Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) whose central stars are hot white dwarfs (WDs) or pre-WDs with effective temperatures of {approx}100,000 K or higher. Diffuse 24 {mu}m emission is detected in 28 of these PNe. The eight nondetections are angularly large PNe with very low H{alpha} surface brightnesses. We find three types of correspondence between the 24 {mu}m emission and H{alpha} line emission of these PNe: six show 24 {mu}m emission more extended than H{alpha} emission, nine have a similar extent at 24 {mu}m and H{alpha}, and 13 show diffuse 24 {mu}m emission near the center of the H{alpha} shell. The sizes and surface brightnesses of these three groups of PNe and the nondetections suggest an evolutionary sequence, with the youngest ones being brightest and the most evolved ones undetected. The 24 {mu}m band emission from these PNe is attributed to [O IV] 25.9 {mu}m and [Ne V] 24.3 {mu}m line emission and dust continuum emission, but the relative contributions of these three components depend on the temperature of the central star and the distribution of gas and dust in the nebula.

• OSTI ID: 21301656
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online) Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 138; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
BRIGHTNESS
DUSTS
EMISSION
PLANETARY NEBULAE
WHITE DWARF STARS