Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
Planetary nebulae form one of the most important subsystems of the Galaxy. If we knew more about this subsystem, an important gap in our ideas about the galactic structure would be filled. Very briefly, we are facing the following situation:
Population I, which contributes to the total mass of the Galaxy by hardly more than 7 %, can be tracked almost over the entire Galaxy thanks to the radio observations of neutral hydrogen at 21 cm wavelength. Other data, for a wide solar neighbourhood, follow from observations of Cepheids and early-type stars.