Using new, high signal-to-noise CFHT ESPaDOnS visual spectrograms, and archive IUE and FUSE UV spectrograms, together with state-of-the-art non-LTE hydrodynamical model atmospheres, we have obtained accurate He, C, N, O photospheric abundance determinations in the central stars of NGC 2392, IC 4593, and NGC 6826. We compare with the corresponding nebular abundances, taken from the literature. The central star of NGC 2392 shows high He, N, and very low C, O abundances. We propose that these peculiar abundances must have originated in a common-envelope phase of interaction with a close binary companion. If we assume that the companion is more evolved than the visible central star, this offers a way of solving the old mystery of the discrepant He II Zanstra temperature of NGC 2392.

We examine the abundance gradient in the Milky Way disk via homogeneously determined data for 124 Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe). We present recent results from a detailed regression analysis of the O gradient. With O, Ne, S, Cl, and Ar available and a range of galactocentric distance (Rg) from 0.9 to 21 kpc, we present additional exploration of the disk radial gradient by statistically analyzing a series of short segments of increasing average Rg.

We present narrow-band optical and near-IR images, and high-resolution long-slit spectra of the planetary nebula Hu 1-2 that allow us to make a detailed description of its unusual morphology and internal kinematics. The data also reveal that the ansae of Hu 1-2 probably represent bow-shocks associated to high velocity outflows that are irradiated from the central star.

Since the issue of the unifying Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae (SECGPN) a large number of new discoveries have been made thanks to improved surveys and discovery techniques. The increasingly heterogeneous published population of Galactic PNe, that we have determined totals <2850 PNe, is becoming more difficult to study on the whole without a centralised repository. We introduce a consolidated and interactive online database with object classifications that reflect the latest multi-wavelength data and the most recent results. The extensible database, hosted by the Centre de Donnees astronomique de Strasbourg (CDS), will contain a wealth of observed data for large, well-defined samples of PNe including coordinates, multi-wavelength images, spectroscopy, line intensities, radial velocities and central star information. It is anticipated that the database will be publicly released early 2012.

The multi-epoch YJKs sub-arcsecond photometry of the VMC survey provides a long anticipated deep near-infrared (NIR) window into further understanding the stellar populations of the Magellanic Clouds. The first year of observations consisted of six tiles covering ~9% of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) survey region and contains 102 objects previously classified as planetary nebulae (PNe). A large proportion of the sample were found to be contaminated by non-PNe. These initial results underline the importance of establishing a clean catalogue of LMC PNe before they are applied in areas such as the planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) and searches for binary central stars. As the VMC survey progresses it will play a fundamental role in cleaning extant PN catalogues and a complementary role in the discovery of new PNe.

We present the results of a study of the planetary nebula NGC 40 with the use of the 3-D photoionization code Mocassin constrained by observational data of different types. The modeling process allows us to derive the three-dimensional nebular structure, physical and chemical characteristics and ionizing star parameters of the object by simultaneously fitting the integrated line intensities, the temperature map, density map, and the observed morphologies in different emission lines. For this particular case we combined hydrodynamical simulations with the photoionization scheme in order to obtain a self-consistent distribution of density and velocity of the nebular material. Finally, using theoretical evolutionary tracks of intermediate and low mass stars, we estimate the mass and age of the central star of NGC 40 as being 0.57 M⊙ and 5810 yr, respectively. The distance obtained from the fitting procedure was 1150 ± 170 pc.

We present optical integral field spectroscopy analysis of the main components, with the exception of the halo, as well as of the detected small-scale structures of the planetary nebulae NGC 3242. The observations were obtained with the VIMOS instrument attached to VLT-UT3. Spatially resolved maps of the electronic density (Ne), temperatures (Te) and chemical abundances, i.e., in a pixel to pixel fashion of the small and large-scales structures of this planetary nebula are determined in this work. These diagnostic and abundance maps represent important constraints for future detailed three dimensional photoionization modeling of the nebula, as well as providing important information on biases introduced by traditional slit observations.

We are presently using the Chandra X-ray Observatory to conduct the first systematic X-ray survey of planetary nebulae (PNe) in the solar neighborhood. The Chandra Planetary Nebula Survey (ChanPlaNS) is a 570 ks Chandra Cycle 12 Large Program targeting 21 high-excitation PNe within ~1.5 kpc of Earth. When complete, this survey will provide a suite of new X-ray diagnostics that will inform the study of late stellar evolution, binary star astrophysics, and wind interactions. Among the early results of ChanPlaNS (when combined with archival Chandra data) is a surprisingly high detection rate of relatively hard X-ray emission from CSPNe. Specifically, X-ray point sources are clearly detected in roughly half of the ~30 high-excitation PNe observed thus far by Chandra, and all but one of these X-ray-emitting CSPNe display evidence for a hard (few MK) component in their Chandra spectra. Only the central star of the Dumbbell appears to display “pure” hot blackbody emission from a ~200 kK hot white dwarf photosphere in the X-ray band. Potential explanations for the“excess” hard X-ray emission detected from the other CSPNe include late-type companions (heretofore undetected, in most cases) whose coronae have been rejuvenated by recent interactions with the mass-losing WD progenitor, non-LTE effects in hot white dwarf photospheres, self-shocking variable winds from the central star, and slow (re-)accretion of previously ejected red giant envelope mass.

We construct a detailed model for the IR dust emission from the PN IC 418. We succeed to reproduce the emission from 2 to 200 μm. We can determine the amount of emitting dust as well as its composition, and compare to the depletion of elements determined for the photoionized region.

We present physical and chemcal properties of the disk in the eclipsing binary system ∊ Aur by solving 2D radiative transfer problem. We also present preliminary results of our high resolution spectroscopic monitoring of K I, Na, and Hα line profiles variation during the totality phase of the recent eclipse of ∊ Aur.

Spectral energy distributions of six proto-planetary nebulae showing 21 and 30μ features were fit with models obtained from 1D radiative transfer code, taking FeO and MgS respectively are the carriers of the features. Atomic abundances of these carrier materials were derived and they are lower or comparable to their stellar photospheric values. This stregthens the possibility of these materials to become the carriers of their respective features.

We obtained a high-resolution CO map of IRAS 22272+5435 in the CO J = 2–1 line using CARMA. The target exhibits a second biggest angular size of the circumstellar molecular envelope among known 21 μm sources. In the preliminary results, we found that the CO properties of IRAS 22272+5435 is clearly different from those of IRAS 07134+1005, which is another well-investigated 21 μm source. For example, elongations seen in the mid-infrared and CO images are extended in mutually perpendicular directions, although in case of IRAS 07134+1005 the CO feature coincides well with the mid-infrared structure.

We present individual distances to three PNe: NGC 6537, NGC 6781 and NGC 7027, determined by the extinction-distance method. These objects are part of a larger sample (35) of PNe that we observed at ORM. In order to apply this method, and to obtain accurate distances, we determined the spectral type of 40 to 60 stars in the line of sight of each PNe. This implied the necessity of classifying few thousands of stellar spectra with S/N ratio between 10 and 60. To solve such need we developed an ANN system to perform automatic spectral classification which could classify spectra with S/N ratio as low as 20 with an accuracy better than 2 spectral subtypes. In this poster we compare the accuracy of such distances with previous distance determinations using other methods. We conclude that it is possible to use this method to obtain the distance of a large number of PNe with better precision.

We investigate the infrared emission bands from Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe). PAHs in PNe are assumed to be in transition from circumstellar to interstellar PAHs. We select 15 evolved PNe taking account of effective stellar temperatures and obtain infrared spectra of PNe from AKARI (2.5–5 μm) and Spitzer (5–14 μm) observations. Their evolutionary phase is estimated using [SIV]10.51/[NeII]12.81. We find that the near-infrared PAH bands are significantly enhanced along with stellar evolution sequence. We also find that the ratio of 3.4 to 3.3 μm bands is enhanced. The enhancement might indicate some chemical processing, such as hydrogenation, on small PAHs.

We present an observational study of three oint-ymmetric lanetary ebulae (PS-PNe): PC 19, He 2-429, and He 1-1, whose kinematics has been previously reported in the literature. The study includes an analysis of physical conditions and chemical abundances. We found that the abundances of He 2-429 and He 1-1 correspond to a Peimbert Type I PNe while those of PC 19 are in good agreement with a Type IV PN. Kinematic evidence derived from proper motion measurement support PC 19 classification and suggest that the progenitor star was a low-mass low-metallicity member of the galactic halo population.

It is well established that PNe are not thermally homogeneous, beyond what chemically homogeneous photoionization models predict. To discriminate between the different scenarios proposed in the literature, we have determined the temperature based on He I lines for a dozen PNe. We compare these determinations with those derived from the Balmer continua. We find that the He I temperatures agree with the Balmer temperatures and that both are lower than those derived from CELs; suggesting that most PNe are chemically homogeneous.

We have found a strong correlation between small filling factors and large t2 values in planetary nebulae. We have also found that in general the filling factor for Type I PNe is smaller than for Type II PNe. These results imply that the abundance correction due to temperature inhomogeneities in general is larger for Type I PNe than for Type II PNe. This difference permits to reproduce the expected abundance difference between PNe of Type I and II predicted by Galactic chemical evolution models.

A preliminary VLT-UVES spectrum of NGC 6302 (Casassus et al. 2002, MN), which hosts one of the hottest PN nuclei known (Teff ~ 220000 K; Wright et al. 2011, MN), has been recently analysed by means of X-SSN, a spectrum synthesis code for nebulae (Morisset and Péquignot). Permitted recombination lines from highly-ionized species are detected/identified for the first time in a PN, and some of them probably for the first time in (astro)physics. The need for a homogeneous, high signal-to-noise UVES spectrum for NGC 6302 is advocated.

We have selected a group of 85 evolved planetary nebulae to study their kinematic characteristic based on spatially resolved, long-slit echelle spectroscopy. The data have been drawn from the San Pedro Mártir Kinematic Catalogue of PNe. The aim is to characterize in detail the global kinematics of PNe at advanced stages of evolution with the largest sample of homogenous data used to date for this purpose. The results reveal groups that share kinematic and photo-ionization characteristics of the nebular shell at the different late stages under study. The expansion velocities are typically larger than seen in earlier evolutionary stages, with the largest velocities occurring in objects with very weak or absent [N II]λλ6548, 6584 emission line. These results shall serve to be compared to predictions of hydrodynamical models.

We present the morphology and linear polarization of the 22-GHz H2O masers in the high-velocity outflow of two post-AGB sources, d46 (IRAS 15445–5449) and b292 (IRAS 18043–2116). The observations were performed using The Australia Telescope Compact Array. Different levels of saturated maser emission have been detected for both sources. We also present the mid-infrared image of d46 overlaid with the distribution of the maser features that we have observed in the red-shifted lobe of the bipolar structure. The relative position of the observed masers and a previous radio continuum observation suggests that the continnum is produced along the blue-shifted lobe of the jet. It is likely due to synchrontron radiation, implying the presence of a strong magnetic field in the jet. The fractional polarization levels measured for the maser features of d46 indicate that the polarization vectors are tracing the poloidal component of the magnetic field in the emitting region. For the H2O masers of b292 we have measured low levels of fractional linear polarization. The linear polarization in the H2O maser region of this source likely indicates a dominant toroidal or poloidal magnetic field component.