Related papers: Binarity and the abundance discrepancy problem in …

In an attempt to determine how many planetary nebulae derive from binary interactions, we have started a project to measure their unbiased binary fraction. This number, when compared to the binary fraction of the presumed parent population…

Considerable effort has been applied towards understanding the precise shaping mechanisms responsible for the diverse range of morphologies exhibited by planetary nebulae (PNe). A binary companion is increasingly gaining support as a…

A growing number of close binary stars are being discovered among central stars of planetary nebulae. Recent and ongoing surveys are finding new systems and contributing to our knowledge of the evolution of close binary systems. The push to…

HII regions, ionized nebulae where massive star formation has taken place, exhibit a wealth of emission lines that are the fundamental basis for estimating the chemical composition of the Universe. For more than 80 years, a discrepancy of…

The "abundance discrepancy" problem in the study of planetary nebulae (PNe), viz., the problem concerning systematically higher heavy-element abundances derived from optical recombination lines relative to those from collisionally excited…

Deep spectroscopy of the planetary nebula (PN) NGC\,6153 shows that its heavy element abundances derived from optical recombination lines (ORLs) are ten times higher than those derived from collisionally excited lines (CELs), and points to…

Close binary central stars of planetary nebulae are key in constraining the poorly-understood common-envelope phase of evolution, which in turn is critical in understanding the formation of a wide-range of astrophysical phenomena (including…

The study of planetary nebulae in the inner-disk and bulge gives important information on the chemical abundances of elements such as He, N, O, Ar, Ne, and on the evolution of these abundances, which is associated with the evolution of…

The errors inherent to the use of the standard "ionization correction factor" ("i_CF") method of calculating nebular conditions and relative abundances of H, He, N, O, Ne, S, and Ar in emission line nebulae have been investigated under…

We show that there are strong links between certain types of asymmetrical Planetary Nebulae (PNe) and symbiotic stars. Symbiotics are binaries and several have extended optical nebulae all of which are asymmetrical and ~-40% are bipolar.…

Close binary central stars of planetary nebulae (PNe) must have formed through a common envelope evolution during the giant phase experienced by one of the stars. Transfer of the angular momentum from the binary system to the envelope leads…

We report on a high-spatial-resolution survey for binary stars in the periphery of the Orion Nebula Cluster, at 5 - 15 arcmin (0.65 - 2 pc) from the cluster center. We observed 228 stars with adaptive optics systems, in order to find…

The long-standing difference in chemical abundances determined from optical recombination lines and collisionally excited lines raises questions about our understanding of atomic physics, as well as the assumptions made when determining…

Planetary Nebulae are the ionised ejected envelopes surrounding the remnant cores of dying stars. Theory predicts that main-sequence stars with one to about eight times the mass of our sun may eventually form planetary nebulae. Until now no…

I list the 16 planetary nebulae (PNe) known to contain close-binary nuclei, and show that the nebulae generally have axisymmetric structures, including elliptical, bipolar, or ring morphologies. The orbital periods range from 2.7 hr to 16…

There is no quantitative theory to explain why a high 80% of all planetary nebulae are non-spherical. The Binary Hypothesis states that a companion to the progenitor of a central star of planetary nebula is required to shape the nebula and…

Recent studies show that more than 70% of massive stars do not evolve as effectively single stars, but as members of interacting binary systems. The evolution of these stars is thus strongly altered compared to similar but isolated objects.…

(Abridged) Results from the first dedicated study of Galactic PNe by means of optical integral field spectroscopy with the VLT FLAMES Argus IFU are presented. Three typical Galactic-disk PNe have been mapped with the 11.5''x7.2'' Argus…

The spectra of the planetary nebulae NGC3242 and NGC6369 are reanalysed using spectral measurements made in the mid-infrared with the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). The aim is to determine the chemical…

A current issue in the study of planetary nebulae with close binary central stars is the extent to which the binaries affect the shaping of the nebulae. Recent studies have begun to show a high coincidence rate between nebulae with…