Related papers: Variable H-alpha Line Emission from the Central St…
Excess emission from a point-like source coincident with the central star of the Helix Nebula is detected with Spitzer at 8, 24, and 70 um. At 24 um, the central source is superposed on an extended diffuse emission region. While the [OIV]…
The central star of NGC 2392 shows the hardest X-ray emission among central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNe). The recent discovery of a spectroscopic companion with an orbital period of 1.9 days could provide an explanation for its hard…
We present new narrow-band filter imagery in H-alpha and [N II] 6584 along with UV and optical spectrophotometry measurements from 1200 to 9600 Angstroms of NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula, a nearby, photogenic planetary nebula of large diameter…
The persistence of planetary systems after their host stars evolve into their post-main sequence phase is poorly constrained by observations. Many young white dwarf systems exhibit infrared excess emission and/or spectral absorption lines…
Here I describe recent studies of objects with molecular hydrogen emission that is strong relative to other spectral lines. Large telescopes and fast spectrometers have made the 2 {\mu}m window accessible even for relatively faint objects.…
We report the discovery of a hard-thermal (T ~ 130 MK) and variable X-ray emission from the Be star HD 157832, a new member of the puzzling class of gamma-Cas-like Be/X-ray systems. Recent optical spectroscopy reveals the presence of a…
We report the first detection of X-ray emission associated with the Homunculus Nebula which surrounds the supermassive star Eta Carinae. The emission is characterized by a temperature in excess of 100 MK, and is consistent with scattering…
The Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected relatively hard X-ray emission from the central stars of several planetary nebulae (PNe). A subset have no known late-type companions, making it very difficult to isolate which of several competing…
The determination of effective temperatures of very hot central stars (Teff>70000K) by model atmosphere analyses of optical H and He line profiles is afflicted with considerable uncertainty, primarily due to the lack of neutral helium…
The central star of the Helix Nebula, WD 2226$-$210 presents enigmatic hard X-ray emission and mid-IR excess. The latter has been attributed to a dusty disk or a cloud-like structure around WD 2226$-$210 formed from material of Kuiper…
We find line emission from the hydrogen- and/or helium-like ions of Ne, O, N and C in the low and short-on states of Her X-1, using the XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer. The emission line velocity broadening is 200 < sigma < 500…
The shape of the ionising spectra of galaxies is a key ingredient to reveal their physical properties and to our understanding of the ionising background radiation. A long-standing unsolved problem is the presence of HeII nebular emission…
A number of giant HII regions are associated with soft diffuse X-ray emission. Among these, the Carina nebula possesses the brightest soft diffuse emission. The required plasma temperature and thermal energy can be produced by collisions or…
We report the detection of 21-cm line emission from H I in the planetary nebula NGC 7293 (the Helix). The observations, made with the Very Large Array, show the presence of a ring of atomic hydrogen that is associated with the outer portion…
We present new X-ray observations of the nearby Herbig Ae star HD 104237 (= DX Cha) with XMM-Newton, whose objective is to clarify the origin of the emission. Several X-ray emission lines are clearly visible in the CCD spectra, including…
High-resolution X-ray spectra of $\pi\,$Aqr, a $\gamma\,$Cas-type star, obtained with the Chandra/HETG grating spectrometer, revealed emission lines of H-like ions of Mg, Si, S, and Fe, a strong, hard continuum, and a lack of He-like ions,…
The Trifid Nebula is a young HII region recently rediscovered as a "pre-Orion" star forming region, containing protostars undergoing violent mass ejections visible in optical jets as seen in images from the Infrared Space Observatory and…
The Trifid Nebula, a young star-forming HII region, was observed for 16 hours by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We detected 304 X-ray sources, thirty percent of which are hard sources and seventy percent of of which have near-infrared…
We report high resolution imaging of a prominent cometary globule in the Helix nebula in the CO J=1-0 (2.6 mm) and H2 v=1-0 S(1) (2.12 micron) lines. The observations confirm that globules consist of dense condensations of molecular gas…
This paper is focused on the transition phase between central stars and white dwarfs, i.e. objects in the effective temperature range 100,000 - 200,000 K. We confine our review to hydrogen-deficient stars because the common H-rich objects…