Related papers: HST Snapshot Survey of Post-AGB Objects

We report the results from an optical imaging survey of proto-planetary nebula candidates using the HST. We exploited the high resolving power and wide dynamic range of HST and detected nebulosities in 21 of 27 sources. All detected…

Post-AGB stars are key objects for the study of the dramatic morphological changes of low- to intermediate-mass stars on their evolution from the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) towards the Planetary Nebula stage. There is growing evidences…

Aims: We study the optical spectral properties of a sample of stars showing far infrared colours similar to those of well-known planetary nebulae. The large majority of them were unidentified sources or poorly known in the literature at the…

A sample of 27 sources, catalogued as pre-main sequence stars by the Pico dos Dias Survey (PDS), is analyzed to investigate a possible contamination by post-AGB stars. The far-infrared excess, due to dust present in the circumstellar…

This review presents the latest advances in the nebular studies of post-AGB objects. Post-AGB stars are great tools to test nucleosynthesis and evolution models for stars of low and intermediate masses, and the evolution of dust in harsh…

Context. Many protoplanetary nebulae show strong asymmetries in their surrounding shell, pointing to asymmetries during the mass loss phase. Questions concerning the origin and the onset of deviations from spherical symmetry are important…

A review is presented of the most relevant results obtained in the last few years on this rare class of astronomical sources. Multi-wavelength analysis of an increasing number of post-AGB stars reveal that they constitute a more…

The transition from the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) to the planetary nebula (PN) phase is critical in the shaping of PNe. It is suggested that the most asymmetric PNe are the descendant of massive AGB stars. Since these AGB stars are…

Aims: We aim to understand the variation of the surface chemistry that occurs during the AGB phase by analysing results from observations of single post-AGB stars in the Magellanic Clouds. We also aim at reconstruct dust formation…

Hot (OB) post-AGB stars are immediate progenitors of planetary nebulae (PNe). Very few hot post-AGB stars are known. Detecting new hot post-AGB candidates and follow-up multiwavelength studies will enable us to further understand the…

We construct a data base of 125 post-AGB objects (including R CrB and extreme helium stars) with published photospheric parameters (effective temperature and gravity) and chemical composition. We estimate the masses of the post-AGB stars by…

We present a complete study of the morphology of post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars. Post-AGB is a very short evolutionary phase between the end of the AGB and the beginning of the Planetary Nebula (PN) stage (between 100 and 10,000…

We selected a sample of post-AGB candidates in the Magellanic Clouds on the basis of their near- and mid-infrared colour characteristics. Fifteen of the most optically bright post-AGB candidates were observed with the South African Large…

We present various infrared two-color diagrams (2CDs) for AGB stars, post-AGB stars, and Planetary Nebulae (PNe) and investigate possible evolutionary tracks. We use catalogs from the available literature for the sample of 4903 AGB stars…

The detected variety in chemistry and circumstellar shell morphology of the limited sample of Galactic post-AGB stars is so large that there is no consensus yet on how the different objects are linked by evolutionary channels. The…

Using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we have carried out a survey of candidate preplanetary nebulae (PPNs). We report here our discoveries of objects having well-resolved geometrical structures, and use the large sample of PPNs now…

We review the information that planetary nebulae and their immediate progenitors, the post-AGB objects, can provide to probe the nucleosynthesis and mixing in low and intermediate mass stars. We emphasize new approaches based on high…

NLTE spectral analyses of high-gravity central stars by means of state-of-the-art model atmosphere techniques provide information about the precursor AGB stars. The hydrogen-deficient post-AGB stars allow investigations on the intershell…

Context: We present a newly discovered class of low-luminosity, dusty, evolved objects in the Magellanic Clouds. These objects have dust excesses, stellar parameters, and spectral energy distributions similar to those of dusty…

The onset of the asymmetry of planetary nebulae (PNe) is expected to occur during the late Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) and early post-AGB phases of low- and intermediate-mass stars. Among all post-AGB objects, the most heavily obscured…