Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2016
We have derived C, N and O abundances, relative to H, using optical recombination lines (ORLs), for a number of galactic planetary nebulae and for three Magellanic Cloud PNe (LMC N66, N141, SMC N87) and compared them with the corresponding abundances derived from collisionally-excited lines (CELs). Our goal was to investigate the fact that PNe ORL abundances are in most cases larger than those obtained from CELs. Our scanning, long-slit observations were combined with large-aperture IUE, IRAS and ISO data to yield integrated abundances for more than half of our target objects.