Related papers: When Nature Tries to Trick Us
It is now clear that binarity plays a crucial role in many aspects of planetary nebulae (PNe), particularly the striking morphologies they exhibit. To date, there are ~60 known bCSPNe. However, both theory and observation indicates that…
We present 2D hydrodynamical simulations of the transition of a proto-planetary nebula to a planetary nebula for central stars in binary systems that have undergone a common envelope event. After 1,000 yr of magnetically driven dynamics…
The planetary nebula (PN) NGC 6778 harbors a binary central star with a short orbital period and displays two systems of fast collimated outflows. In order to assess the influence of the evolution through a common-envelope phase of the…
Abell 70 is a planetary nebula (PN) whose nucleus at optical wavelengths is a G8 star with enhanced carbon and s-process abundances--a "barium star." The cool star is a binary companion of the true, hot central star. In several other…
We review the evolution of our understanding of the planetary nebulae phenomenon and their place in the scheme of stellar evolution. The historical steps leading to our current understanding of central star evolution and nebular formation…
We present a spectroscopic investigation of two hitherto unstudied galactic planetary nebulae (MeWe 1-10 and MeWe 1-11) and one candidate object (MeWe 2-5). The candidate object clearly has been identified as a bipolar hourglass shaped PN.…
Close, compact, hierarchical, multiple stellar systems, i.e., multiples having an outer orbital period from months to a few years, comprise a small, but continuously growing group of the triple and multiple star zoo. Many of them consist of…
We present the first detailed spatio-kinematical analysis and modelling of the planetary nebula Shapley 1 (Sp 1), which is known to contain a close-binary central star system. Close-binary central stars have been identified as a likely…
We present a detailed study of the binary central star of the planetary nebula ETHOS 1 (PN G068.1+11.0). Simultaneous modelling of light and radial velocity curves reveals the binary to comprise a hot and massive pre-white-dwarf with an…
We present preliminary results from measuring Galactic orientation angles of 800 elliptical and bipolar Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in the Hong Kong/Australian Astronomical Observatory/Strasbourg Observatory H-alpha Planetary Nebula (HASH)…
Planetary nebulae (PNe) are an exciting addition to the zoo of X-ray sources. Recent Chandra and XMM-Newton observations have detected diffuse X-ray emission from shocked fast winds in PN interiors as well as bow-shocks of fast collimated…
Using a radiation-hydrodynamics code I follow the formation of planetary nebulae around stars of different mass. Because a more massive central star evolves much faster than a lower mass one, it is to be expected that this will affect the…
We carried out high-sensitivity spectropolarimetric observations of the central star of the Red Rectangle proto-planetary nebula with the aim of constraining the mechanism that gives its biconical shape. The stellar light of the central…
It is now clear that a binary formation pathway is responsible for a significant fraction of planetary nebulae, and this increased sample of known binaries means that we are now in a position to begin to constrain their influence on the…
We present a spectroscopic investigation of 25 objects previously reported as possible Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in recent catalogs to obtain their physical properties and to establish their true nature. We found 11 objects showing intense…
Planetary nebulae (PNe) can be roughly categorized into several broad morphological classes. The high quality images of PNe acquired in recent years, however, have revealed a wealth of fine structures that preclude simplistic models for…
We present medium-resolution (R~700) near-infrared (lambda = 1 - 2.5 micron) spectra of a sample of planetary nebulae (PNe). A narrow slit was used which sampled discrete locations within the nebulae; observations were obtained at one or…
Planetary nebulae are one of the final stages in the evolution of low and intermediate mass stars. They occur in a variety of shapes. Older and fainter ones are generally more difficult to identify because of the lower surface brightness.…
Preplanetary nebulae and planetary nebulae are evolved, mass-losing stellar objects that show a wide variety of morphologies. Many of these nebulae consist of outer structures that are nearly spherical (spiral/shell/arc/halo) and inner…
We present spectroscopy of three planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Northern Spur of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) obtained with the Double Spectrograph on the 5.1 m Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The samples are selected from the…