Related papers: Extragalactic Planetary Nebulae: Observational Cha…
Over the past decade, neutrino astronomy has emerged as a new window into the extreme and hidden universe. Current-generation experiments have detected high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin and identified the first sources, opening…
Planetary nebulae (PNe) consist of an ionized envelope surrounding a hot central star (CSPN) that emits mostly at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. Ultraviolet observations, therefore, provide important information on both the CSPN and the…
We review the observational and theoretical constraints on extragalactic magnetic fields across cosmic environment. In the next decade, the combination of sophisticated numerical simulations and various observational probes might succeed in…
We present a new synthetic model to follow the evolution of a planetary nebula (PN) and its central star, starting from the onset of AGB phase up to the white dwarf cooling sequence. The model suitably combines various analytical…
The brightest planetary nebulae achieve similar maximum luminosities, have similar ratios of chemcial abundances, and apparently share similar kinematics in all galaxies. These similarities, however, are not necessarily expected…
Only a handful of binary central stars of planetary nebulae (PNe) are known today, due to the difficulty of detecting their companions. Preliminary results from radial velocity surveys, however, seem to indicate that binarity plays a…
Planetary nebulae (PNe) and their central stars (CSs) are ideal tools to test evolutionary theory: photospheric properties of their exciting stars give stringent constraints for theoretical predictions of stellar evolution. The nebular…
Planetary nebulae (PNe) are an important tool for studying the dynamics and chemical evolution of galaxies in the Local Universe, given their characteristic, bright emission line spectra. The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) provides a unique…
The [O III] 5007 Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function (PNLF) is an excellent extragalactic standard candle. In theory, the PNLF method should not work at all, since the luminosities of the brightest planetary nebulae (PNe) should be highly…
A historical perspective on the study of asymmetries in planetary nebulae (PNs) is presented. We also describe our ongoing work in high resolution spectroscopy of planetaries, and discuss some likely future directions for the study of…
We use planetary nebulae (PNe) as probes to determine the Galactic radial oxygen gradients, and other abundance patterns. We select data homogeneously from recent data sets, including PNe at large Galactocentric distances. The radial oxygen…
This paper starts with a brief historical review about the PNLF and its use as a distance indicator. Then the PNLF distances are compared with Surface Brightness Fluctuations (SBF) distances and Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) distances.…
The diffuse meta-galactic radiation field at ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths - commonly labeled extragalactic background light (EBL) - contains the integrated emission history of the universe. Difficult to access via direct observations…
We highlight recent theoretical and observational progress in several areas of neutron star astrophysics, and discuss the prospect for advances in the next decade.
Planetary Nebulae represent a powerful window into the evolution of low-intermediate mass stars that have undergone extensive mass-loss. The nebula manifests itself in an extremely wide variety of shapes, but exactly how the mass lost is…
The exoplanet detection is the most exciting and challenging field of astronomy. The discovery of many exoplanets has revolutionized our understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary systems and has showed new ways to search for…
Recent Halpha surveys such as SHS and IPHAS have improved the completeness of the Galactic planetary nebula (PN) census. We now know of ~3,000 PNe in the Galaxy, but this is far short of most estimates, typically ~25,000 or more for the…
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.…
In this work we report spectrophotometric observations of a planetary nebula sample towards the galactic bulge. A total of 45 PNe was observed and their physical parameters (electron density and temperature) were derived. Ionic abundances…
The extended nebulae formed as pulsar winds expand into their surroundings provide information about the composition of the winds, the injection history from the host pulsar, and the material into which the nebulae are expanding.…