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 The evolution of planetary nebulae. II. Circumstellar environment and expansion propertiesWe investigate and discuss the expansion properties of planetary nebulaeby means of 1D radiation-hydrodynamics models computed for differentinitial envelope configurations and central star evolutionary tracks. Inparticular, we study how the expansion depends on the initial densitygradient of the circumstellar envelope and show that it is possible toderive information on the very last mass-loss episodes during the star'sfinal evolution along and off the asymptotic giant branch. To facilitatethe comparison of the models with real objects, we have also computedobservable quantities like surface brightness and emission-lineprofiles. With the help of newly acquired high-resolution emission-lineprofiles for a sample of planetary nebulae we show that models withinitial envelopes based on the assumption of a stationary wind outflowfail to explain the observed expansion speeds of virtually all of theobserved planetary nebulae. Instead it must be assumed that during thevery last phase of evolution along the final asymptotic giant branchevolution the mass-loss rate increases in strength, resulting in a muchsteeper slope of the circumstellar radial density distribution. Underthese conditions, the expansion properties of the nebular gas differconsiderably from the self-similar solutions found for isothermalconditions. Furthermore, the mass loss must remain at a rather highlevel until the stellar remnant begins to evolve quickly towards thecentral star regime. Current theoretical computations of dust-drivenmass-loss which are restricted to rather low temperatures cannot beapplied during the star's departure from the asymptotic giant branch.Based on observations obtained at the 3.5 μm NTT and the 1.2 μmCAT telescope of the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, and at the2.6 μm NOT telescope operated on the island of La Palma by NOTSA, inthe Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the InstitutodeAstrofísica de Canarias.Dedicated to Prof. V. Weidemann on the occasion of his 80th birthday,October 3, 2004. Planetary nebula distances re-examined: an improved statistical scaleThe distances of planetary nebulae (PNe) are still quite uncertain.Although observational estimates are available for a small proportion ofPNe, based on statistical parallax and the like, such distances are verypoorly determined for the majority of galactic PNe. In particular,estimates of so-called statistical' distance appear to differ byfactors of ~2.7.We point out that there is a well-defined correlation between the 5-GHzluminosity of the sources, L5, and their brightnesstemperatures, TB. This represents a different trend to thoseinvestigated in previous statistical analyses, and permits us todetermine independent distances to a further 449 outflows. Thesedistances are shown to be closely comparable to those determined using aTB-R correlation, providing that the latter trend is taken tobe non-linear.This non-linearity in the TB-R plane has not been noted inprevious analyses, and is likely responsible for the broad (andconflicting) ranges of distance that have previously been published.Finally, we point out that there is a close accord between observedtrends within the L5-TB and TB-Rplanes, and the variation predicted through nebular evolutionarymodelling. This is used to suggest that observational biases areprobably modest, and that our revised distance scale is reasonablytrustworthy. The relation between Zanstra temperature and morphology in planetary nebulaeWe have created a master list of Zanstra temperatures for 373 galacticplanetary nebulae based upon a compilation of 1575 values taken from thepublished literature. These are used to evaluate mean trends intemperature for differing nebular morphologies. Among the most prominentresults of this analysis is the tendency forη=TZ(HeII)/TZ(HeI) to increase with nebularradius, a trend which is taken to arise from the evolution of shelloptical depths. We find that as many as 87 per cent of nebulae may beoptically thin to H ionizing radiation where radii exceed ~0.16 pc. Wealso note that the distributions of values η and TZ(HeII)are quite different for circular, elliptical and bipolar nebulae. Acomparison of observed temperatures with theoretical H-burning trackssuggests that elliptical and circular sources arise from progenitorswith mean mass ≅ 1 Msolar(although the elliptical progenitors are probably more massive).Higher-temperature elliptical sources are likely to derive fromprogenitors with mass ≅2 Msolar, however, implying thatthese nebulae (at least) are associated with a broad swathe ofprogenitor masses. Such a conclusion is also supported by trends in meangalactic latitude. It is found that higher-temperature ellipticalsources have much lower mean latitudes than those with smallerTZ(HeII), a trend which is explicable where there is anincrease in with increasing TZ(HeII).This latitude-temperature variation also applies for most other sources.Bipolar nebulae appear to have mean progenitor masses ≅2.5Msolar, whilst jets, Brets and other highly collimatedoutflows are associated with progenitors at the other end of the massrange (~ 1 Msolar). Indeed it ispossible, given their large mean latitudes and low peak temperatures,that the latter nebulae are associated with the lowest-mass progenitorsof all.The present results appear fully consistent with earlier analyses basedupon nebular scale heights, shell abundances and the relativeproportions of differing morphologies, and offer further evidence for alink between progenitor mass and morphology. Galactic Planetary Nebulae and their central stars. I. An accurate and homogeneous set of coordinatesWe have used the 2nd generation of the Guide Star Catalogue (GSC-II) asa reference astrometric catalogue to compile the positions of 1086Galactic Planetary Nebulae (PNe) listed in the Strasbourg ESO Catalogue(SEC), its supplement and the version 2000 of the Catalogue of PlanetaryNebulae. This constitutes about 75% of all known PNe. For these PNe, theones with a known central star (CS) or with a small diameter, we havederived coordinates with an absolute accuracy of ~0\farcs35 in eachcoordinate, which is the intrinsic astrometric precision of the GSC-II.For another 226, mostly extended, objects without a GSC-II counterpartwe give coordinates based on the second epoch Digital Sky Survey(DSS-II). While these coordinates may have systematic offsets relativeto the GSC-II of up to 5 arcsecs, our new coordinates usually representa significant improvement over the previous catalogue values for theselarge objects. This is the first truly homogeneous compilation of PNepositions over the whole sky and the most accurate one available so far.The complete Table \ref{tab2} is only available in electronic form atthe CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/408/1029} Angular dimensions of planetary nebulaeWe have measured angular dimensions of 312 planetary nebulae from theirimages obtained in Hα (or Hα + [NII]). We have appliedthree methods of measurements: direct measurements at the 10% level ofthe peak surface brightness, Gaussian deconvolution and second-momentdeconvolution. The results from the three methods are compared andanalysed. We propose a simple deconvolution of the 10% levelmeasurements which significantly improves the reliability of thesemeasurements for compact and partially resolved nebulae. Gaussiandeconvolution gives consistent but somewhat underestimated diameterscompared to the 10% measurements. Second-moment deconvolution givesresults in poor agreement with those from the other two methods,especially for poorly resolved nebulae. From the results of measurementsand using the conclusions of our analysis we derive the final nebulardiameters which should be free from systematic differences between small(partially resolved) and extended (well resolved) objects in our sample.Table 1 is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org The relation between elemental abundances and morphology in planetary nebulaeAn investigation of the variation of elemental abundances with planetarynebula morphology is of considerable interest, since it has a bearingupon how such sources are formed, and from which progenitors they areejected. Recent advances in morphological classification now enable usto assess such trends for a statistically significant number of sources.We find, as a result, that the distribution N[log(X/H)] of sources withrespect to elemental abundance (X/H) varies between the differingmorphologies. Circular sources tend to peak towards low abundancevalues, whilst bipolar nebulae (BPNe) peak towards somewhat highervalues. This applies for most elemental species, although it is perhapsleast apparent for oxygen. In contrast, elliptical sources appear todisplay much broader functions N[log(X/H)], which trespass upon thedomains of both circular and elliptical planetary nebulae (PNe).We take these trends to imply that circular sources derive fromlower-mass progenitors, bipolar sources from higher-mass stars, and thatelliptical nebulae derive from all masses of progenitor, high and low.Whilst such trends are also evident in values of mean abundance, they are much less clear. Only in the cases of He/H, N/H,Ne/H and perhaps Ar/H is there evidence for significant abundancedifferences.Certain BPNe appear to possess low abundance ratios He/H and Ar/H, andthis confirms that a few such outflows may arise from lower-massprogenitors. Similarly, we note that ratios are quite modestin elliptical planetary nebulae, and not much different from those forcircular and bipolar PNe; a result that conflicts with the expectationsof at least one model of shell formation. Ionized haloes in planetary nebulae: new discoveries, literature compilation and basic statistical propertiesWe present a comprehensive observational study of haloes aroundplanetary nebulae (PNe). Deep Hα+[NII] and/or [OIII] narrow-bandimages have been obtained for 35 PNe, and faint extended haloes havebeen newly discovered in the following 10 objects: Cn 1-5, IC 2165, IC2553, NGC 2792, NGC 2867, NGC 3918, NGC 5979, NGC 6578, PB 4, andpossibly IC 1747. New deep images have also been obtained of other knownor suspected haloes, including the huge extended emission around NGC3242 and Sh 2-200. In addition, the literature was searched, andtogether with the new observations an improved data base containing some50 PN haloes has been compiled.The halo sample is illustrated in an image atlas contained in thispaper, and the original images are made available for use by thescientific community at http://www.ing.iac.es/~rcorradi/HALOES/.The haloes have been classified following the predictions of modernradiation-hydrodynamical simulations that describe the formation andevolution of ionized multiple shells and haloes around PNe. According tothe models, the observed haloes have been divided into the followinggroups: (i) circular or slightly elliptical asymptotic giant branch(AGB) haloes, which contain the signature of the last thermal pulse onthe AGB; (ii) highly asymmetrical AGB haloes; (iii) candidaterecombination haloes, i.e. limb-brightened extended shells that areexpected to be produced by recombination during the late post-AGBevolution, when the luminosity of the central star drops rapidly by asignificant factor; (iv) uncertain cases which deserve further study fora reliable classification; (v) non-detections, i.e. PNe in which no halois found to a level of <~10-3 the peak surface brightnessof the inner nebulae.We discuss the properties of the haloes: detection rate, morphology,location of the central stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, sizes,surface brightness profiles, and kinematical ages. Among the mostnotable results, we find that, as predicted by models, ionized AGBhaloes are a quite common phenomenon in PNe, having been found in 60 percent of elliptical PNe for which adequately deep images exist. Another10 per cent show possible recombination haloes. In addition, using thekinematical ages of the haloes and inner nebulae, we conclude that mostof the PNe with observed AGB haloes have left the AGB far from a thermalpulse, at a phase when hydrogen burning is the dominant energy source.We find no significant differences between the AGB haloes ofhydrogen-poor and hydrogen-rich central stars. An analysis of the observed radio emission from planetary nebulaeWe have analysed the radio fluxes for 264 planetary nebulae for whichreliable measurements of fluxes at 1.4 and 5 GHz, and of nebulardiameters are available. For many of the investigated nebulae, theoptical thickness is important, especially at 1.4 GHz. Simple modelslike the one specified only by a single optical thickness or spherical,constant density shells do not account satisfactorily for theobservations. Also an r-2 density distribution is ruled out.A reasonable representation of the observations can be obtained by atwo-component model having regions of two different values of opticalthickness. We show that the nebular diameters smaller than 10arcsec areuncertain, particularly if they come from photographic plates orGaussian fitting to the radio profile. While determining theinterstellar extinction from an optical to radio flux ratio, cautionshould be paid regarding optical thickness effects in the radio. We havedeveloped a method for estimating the value of self absorption. At 1.4GHz self absorption of the flux is usually important and can exceed afactor of 10. At 5 GHz self absorption is negligible for most of theobjects, although in some cases it can reach a factor of 2. The Galacticbulge planetary nebulae when used to calibrate the Shklovsky method givea mean nebular mass of 0.14 Msun. The statistical uncertaintyof the Shklovsky distances is smaller than a factor of 1.5. Table 1 isonly available in electronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org. Gravity distances of planetary nebulae II. Aplication to a sample of galactic objects.Not Available IUE Spectra and Emission-Line Fluxes for Eight Planetary NebulaeWe present IUE spectra and observed emission-line fluxes for theplanetary nebulae NGC 2438, NGC 2610, NGC 5307, NGC 6620, NGC 7354,K3-27, PB 8, and He 2-182. All data have been processed by the finalarchive NEWSIPS routines. PB 8 and He 2-182 display strong C IVλ1549 P Cygni profiles from which terminal wind velocities of-2835+/-500 km s-1 and -2350+/-500 km s-1,respectively, were determined. Recessional Halos in Planetary Nebulae: An Undervalued Aspect of Nebular MorphologyMany planetary nebulae (PNs) are known to possess halos, the origins ofwhich are ill determined. We suggest that several of the brighter halos,at least, are likely to arise through contraction of ionization frontswithin the nebular shell, a situation that may arise where central startemperatures and luminosities decline at intermediate phases of PNevolution. We show that such halos may be long-lived and possessappreciable levels of emission for periods of ~103 yr or so.We also find that several well-known halo sources possess propertiesconsistent with this hypothesis and that two further sources may havedeveloped halos as a result of late helium flash. The dust content of planetary nebulae: a reappraisalWe have performed a statistical analysis using broad band IRAS data onabout 500 planetary nebulae with the aim of characterizing their dustcontent. Our approach is different from previous studies in that it usesan extensive grid of photoionization models to test the methods forderiving the dust temperature, the dust-to-gas mass ratio and theaverage grain size. In addition, we use only distance independentdiagrams. With our models, we show the effect of contamination by atomiclines in the broad band IRAS fluxes during planetary nebula evolution.We find that planetary nebulae with very different dust-to-gas massratios exist, so that the dust content is a primordial parameter for theinterpretation of far infrared data of planetary nebulae. In contrastwith previous studies, we find no evidence for a decrease in thedust-to-gas mass ratio as the planetary nebulae evolve. We also showthat the decrease in grain size advocated by Natta & Panagia(\cite{NattaPanagia}) and Lenzuni et al. (\cite{Lenzuni}) is an artefactof their method of analysis. Our results suggest that the timescale fordestruction of dust grains in planetary nebulae is larger than theirlifetime. Table~1 is only accessible in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html Visual Wide Binaries and the Structure of Planetary NebulaeIn recent work Ciardullo et al. listed 19 planetary nebulae surveyed bythe Hubble Space Telescope for the presence of resolved visual binarycompanions of their central stars. For 10 planetary nebulae they arguefor probable physical association of the resolved stars with the centralstars, while for nine the association is less likely. Such stellarcompanions, at orbital separations of hundreds to thousands ofastronomical units, will cause the structures of these planetary nebulaeto possess a nonaxisymmetric signature. By using images from theliterature of these 19 planetary nebulae, I demonstrate that thestructures of the planetary nebulae are compatible in most cases withthe arguments of Ciardullo et al. for association or nonassociation ofthe resolved stars with the planetary nebulae central stars. This showsthat whether a planetary nebula departs from having purely axisymmetricstructure can be used to strengthen an argument for an association or anonassociation of a putative wide companion with the stellar progenitorof the nebula. Spectroscopic investigation of old planetaries. IV. Model atmosphere analysisThe results of a NLTE model atmosphere analysis of 27 hydrogen-richcentral stars of old planetary nebulae (PN) are reported. These starswere selected from a previous paper in this series, where we gaveclassifications for a total of 38 central stars. Most of the analyzedcentral stars fill a previously reported gap in the hydrogen-richevolutionary sequence. Our observations imply the existence of twoseparated spectral evolutionary sequences for hydrogen-rich and -poorcentral stars/white dwarfs. This is in line with theoreticalevolutionary calculations, which predict that most post-AGB stars reachthe white dwarf domain with a thick hydrogen envelope of ~ 10(-4) M_sun.We determine stellar masses from the comparison with evolutionary tracksand derive a mass distribution for the hydrogen-rich central stars ofold PNe. The peak mass and the general shape of the distribution is inagreement with recent determinations of the white dwarf massdistribution. The properties of most analyzed stars are well explainedby standard post-AGB evolution. However, for eight stars of the sampleother scenarios have to be invoked. The properties of three of them areprobably best explained by born again post-AGB evolution. Two of theseare hybrid CSPN (hydrogen-rich PG 1159 stars), but surprisingly thethird star doesn't show any signs of chemical enrichment in itsatmosphere. The parameters of five stars are not in accordance withpost-AGB evolution. We discuss alternative scenarios such as thestripping of the hydrogen-rich envelope by a companion during the firstred giant phase or the formation of a common envelope with a possiblemerging of both components. Two stars (HDW 4 andHaWe 5) remain mysterious after all. They resembleordinary hot DA white dwarfs, but due to very large evolutionary agesthe presence of a PN cannot be explained. We speculate that the nebulaemay be shells produced by ancient nova outbursts. A wide spread ofhelium abundances is observed in the photospheres of central stars ofold PNe. It is shown that a good correlation between helium abundancesand luminosity is present. It is inferred that when the stars'luminosities fall below L~ 300 L_sun depletion starts and the heliumabundance steadily decreases with decreasing luminosity. The existenceof this correlation is in qualitative agreement with recent theoreticalcalculations of gravitational settling in the presence of a stellarwind. Infrared Planetary Nebulae in the NRAO VLA Sky SurveyIn order to construct a sample of planetary nebulae (PNe) unbiased bydust extinction, we first selected the 1358 sources in the IRAS PointSource Catalog north of J2000 declination delta=-40^deg having measuredS(25 μm)>=1 Jy and colors characteristic of PNe: detections orupper limits consistent with both S(12 μm)<=0.35S(25 μm) andS(25 μm)>=0.35S(60 μm). The majority are radio-quietcontaminating sources such as asymptotic giant branch stars. Free-freeemission from genuine PNe should make them radio sources. The 1.4 GHzNRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) images and source catalog were used to rejectradio-quiet mid-infrared sources. We identified 454 IRAS sources withradio sources brighter than S~2.5 mJy beam^-1 (equivalent to T~0.8 K inthe 45" FHWM NVSS beam) by positional coincidence. They comprise 332known PNe in the Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulaeand 122 candidate PNe, most of which lie at very low Galactic latitudes.Exploratory optical spectroscopic observations suggest that most ofthese candidates are indeed PNe optically dimmed by dust extinction,although some contamination remains from H II regions, Seyfert galaxies,etc. Furthermore, the NVSS failed to detect only 4% of the known PNe inour infrared sample. Thus it appears that radio selection can greatlyimprove the reliability of PN candidate samples withoutsacrificingcompleteness. A HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE Survey for Resolved Companions of Planetary Nebula NucleiWe report the results of a Hubble Space Telescope snapshot'' surveyaimed at finding resolved binary companions of the central stars ofGalactic planetary nebulae (PNe). Using the the Wide Field and PlanetaryCamera and Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, we searched the fields of 113PNe for stars whose close proximity to the central star suggests aphysical association. In all, we find 10 binary nuclei that are verylikely to be physically associated and another six that are possiblebinary associations. By correcting for interstellar extinction andplacing the central stars' companions on the main sequence (or, in onecase, on the white dwarf cooling curve), we derive distances to theobjects, and thereby significantly increase the number of PNe withreliable distances. Comparison of our derived distances with thoseobtained from various statistical methods shows that all of the latterhave systematically overestimated the distances, by factors ranging upto a factor of 2 or more. We show that this error is most likely due tothe fact that the properties of our PNe with binary nuclei aresystematically different from those of PNe used heretofore to calibratestatistical methods. Specifically, our PNe tend to have lower surfacebrightnesses at the same physical radius than the traditionalcalibration objects. This difference may arise from a selection effect:the PNe in our survey are typically nearby, old nebulae, whereas most ofthe objects that calibrate statistical techniques are low-latitude, highsurface brightness, and more distant nebulae. As a result, thestatistical methods that seem to work well with samples of distant PNe,for example, those in the Galactic bulge or external galaxies, may notbe applicable to the more diverse population of local PNe. Our distancedeterminations could be improved with better knowledge of themetallicities of the individual nebulae and central stars, measurementsof proper motions and radial velocities for additional candidatecompanions, and deeper HST images of several of our new binary nuclei. On The Kinematics of Multiple-Shell Planetary Nebulae. I. Data and Expansion VelocitiesWe present spatially resolved echelle spectroscopy, obtained at highspectral resolution, for 15 multiple-shell planetary nebulae. Mostexhibit faint detached halos (IC 1295, MA 3, M 2-2, M 2-40, NGC 6804,NGC 6826, NGC 6884, NGC 6891, NGC 7662, PM 1-295, and Vy 2-3).Furthermore, we have included some with attached shells (IC 1454, K1-20, K 3-73, and PM 1-276) to allow comparison of the kinematicproperties of the two subclasses of multiple-shell planetary nebulae. Inaddition, some of the nebulae in our sample show a triple-shellstructure, composed of the bright main nebula and a combination of twoattached shells (PB 9), one attached shell and one detached halo (NGC6826, NGC 6891, NGC 7662, and Vy 2-3), or two detached shells (NGC6804). A new method for computing the expansion velocities of thoseshells that do not show line splitting has been developed. This methodassumes a thick-shell model and uses the observed Hα emissionbrightness profile to compute the volume emissivity dependence,ɛ(r), with the distance from the center of the nebula. Theexpansion velocity is then worked out by modeling how much the width ofa the Hα line decreases with the radius of the shell. The radialvelocity, expansion velocities of each shell, and turbulencecontribution to the line width are presented. The expansion velocity ofthe detached halos spans from 12 to 30 km s^-1. It is worth noting thatthe expansion velocities obtained by this method are greater than ifthey were computed with a thin-shell model, as has previously been done.In relation to the attached shells, their expansion velocities span from10 to 30 km s^-1. When the expansion velocities of the outer attachedshells are related to the ellipticity of the inner shells, a trendtoward faster expansion of the outer than the inner shells at higherellipticities is found. The turbulent contribution to the line width hasalso been established. It is smaller for halos (0 km s^-1 <=sigma_tur <= 6 km s^-1) than for attached shells (0 km s^-1 <=sigma_tur <= 15 km s^-1). This suggests that large-scale hydrodynamicprocesses are more important in attached shells than in detached halos.We have also studied the kinematics of the detached halos whosemorphology is perturbed from a round shape to a dipole asymmetry,indicating its interaction with the surrounding interstellar medium. Wefound systematic differences between the kinematical behavior of theenhanced edge of the halo and the opposite side in these cases, thusrevealing the kinematic effect of the interaction of the halos with theinterstellar medium. The kinematics of 867 galactic planetary nebulaeWe present a compilation of radial velocities of 867 galactic planetarynebulae. Almost 900 new measurements are included. Previously publishedkinematical data are compared with the new high-resolution data toassess their accuracies. One of the largest samples in the literatureshows evidence for a systematic velocity offset. We calculate weightedaverages between all available data. Of the final values in thecatalogue, 90% have accuracies better than 20 km s(-1) . We use thiscompilation to derive kinematical parameters of the galacticdifferential rotation obtained from least-square fitting and toestablish the Disk rotation curve; we find no significal trend for thepresence of an increasing external rotation curve. We examine also therotation of the bulge; the derived curve is consistent with a linearlyincreasing rotation velocity with l: we find V_b,r=(9.9+/-1.3)l -(6.7+/-8.5) km s(-1) . A possible steeper gradient in the innermostregion is indicated. Table 2 is available in electronic form only, viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html Planetary Nebulae in the NRAO VLA Sky SurveyThe 1.4 GHz NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) images and source catalog wereused to detect radio emission from the 885 planetary nebulae north ofJ2000 declination delta = -40 deg in the Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue ofGalactic Planetary Nebulae. We identified 680 radio sources brighterthan about S = 2.5 mJy beam-1 (equivalent to T ~ 0.8 K in the 45" FWHMNVSS beam) with planetary nebulae by coincidence with accurate opticalpositions measured from Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) images. Totalextinction coefficients c at lambda = 4861 Angstroms were calculated forthe 429 planetary nebulae with available H beta fluxes and low free-freeoptical depths at 1.4 GHz. The variation of c with Galactic latitude andlongitude is consistent with the extinction being primarily interstellarand not intrinsic. A Morphological Study of Planetary NebulaeWe have produced simulated images of 110 planetary nebulae using theellipsoidal shell model. This process has allowed us to remove theprojection effects from the morphological classification of planetarynebulae and has provided quantitative measures of the intrinsicasymmetries of the nebulae. It is shown that the morphology of mostplanetary nebulae can be reproduced with pole-to-equator density ratiosof 0.1-1. Many planetary nebulae also show a modest departure from axialsymmetry. Contrary to previous findings by Khromov & Kohoutek, thesky orientation of planetary nebulae in this sample is consistent with apurely random distribution. Extremely bipolar nebulae (e.g., those ofbutterfly shape) point to a steep density profile in the AGB envelopeand are more likely to be type I (high helium and/or nitrogen abundance)nebulae. We found evidence that these nebulae are likely to have moremassive progenitors and are at a more advanced stage of dynamicalevolution. Orientation of planetary nebulae within the GalaxyNarrow-band CCD images of 209 axially symmetrical planetary nebulae(PNe) have been examined in order to determine the orientation of theiraxes within the disc of the Galaxy. The nebulae have been divided intothe bipolar (B) and elliptical (E) PNe morphological types, according tothe scheme of Corradi & Schwarz. In both classes, contrary to theresults of Melnick & Harwit and Phillips we do not find any strongevidence for non-random orientations of the nebulae in the Galaxy.Compared with previous work in this field, the present study takesadvantage of the use of larger and morphologically more homogeneoussamples and offers a more rigorous statistical analysis. A self-consistent determination of distances, physical parameters, and chemical composition for a large sample of galactic planetary nebulae: chemical compositionThe relative abundances of He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Ar arepresented for, respectively, 185, 65, 212, 221, 180, 13, 41, 197, and205 Galactic planetary nebulae. The observed stages of ionization weretaken into account using the relations between the relative abundancesof different ions derived from a grid of photoionization models for thenebular emission. The chemical compositions of all the planetary nebulaewere determined using the same method and the same atomic data, so thatthe results have a high degree of uniformity; this is the first timethis has been done for such a large sample of Galactic planetary nebulae(221 objects). A self-consistent determination of the distances, physical parameters, and chemical composition for a large sample of galactic planetary nebulae: The distances and parameters of central stars and the optical depths of envelopesThe distances and parameters of the central stars and the optical depthsof the envelopes in the Lyman limits of neutral hydrogen and neutralhelium were determined in a self-consistent way for 170 Galacticplanetary nebulae (PNe). The distance to each PN was so chosen that thetheoretically calculated evolutionary age of its nucleus was equal tothe dynamical age of its expanding envelope. The effective temperatureof the central star and its related parameters were determined either bythe generalized energy-balance method or, where appropriate, byZanstra's method. The derived distance estimates lend support to along' distance scale for PNe and are generally in agreement withcurrent individual and statistical estimates of the distances to PNeavailable in the literature. The mean distance to the bulge PNe is 7.9+/- 0.3 kpc, in agreement with the distance to the Galactic center. Themasses of the central stars of PNe corresponding to the deriveddistances are closely correlated with the nebular nitrogen-to-oxygenabundance ratio. Properties That Cannot Be Explained by the Progenitors of Planetary NebulaeI classify a large number of planetary nebulae (458) according to theprocess that caused their progenitors to blow axisymmetrical winds. Theclassification is based primarily on the morphologies of the differentplanetary nebulae, assuming that binary companions, stellar orsubstellar, are necessary in order to have axisymmetrical mass loss onthe asymptotic giant branch. I propose four evolutionary classes,according to the binary-model hypothesis: (1) Progenitors of planetarynebula that did not interact with any companion. These amount to ~10% ofall planetary nebulae. (2) Progenitors that interact with stellarcompanions that avoided a common envelope, 11^{+2}_{-3}% of all nebulae.(3) Progenitors that interact with stellar companions via a commonenvelope phase, 23^{+11}_{-5}% of all nebulae. (4) Progenitors thatinteract with substellar (i.e., planets and brown dwarfs) companions viaa common envelope phase, 56^{+5}_{-8}% of all nebulae. In order todefine and build the different classes, I start with clarifying somerelevant terms and processes related to binary evolution. I then discusskinematical and morphological properties of planetary nebulae thatappear to require the interaction of the planetary nebula progenitorsand/or their winds with companions, stellar or substellar. The Timescale Correlation Method: Distances to Planetary Nebulae with HalosWe present deep narrow-band CCD images of six PNe obtained with thePalomar 5 m telescope in the light of [N II] lambda 6584 + H alpha and[O III] lambda 5007. Several previously undetected structures are found,including faint multiple envelope structures surrounding three of thetargets. The inclusion of these sources with data for other multipleenvelope PNe published in the literature permit a statistical evaluationof the relationship between PN "shells" and the thermal pulses of the PNnucleus. In this paper, we investigate the dynamical timescale betweensuccessive envelopes, tau dyn, and the nuclear interpulse timescale, tauip. Our results show that the deviations from the relation tau dyn = tauip can be explained by the uncertainty in the Shklovsky distance toindividual PNe, which is sigma _{d_{{sh}}}/d_{{sh}}~2 . By imposing theconstraint that tau dyn = tau ip, we find that it is possible to derivea PN distance indicator, which we name the timescale correlationdistance, dTC. The derivation for dTC is independent of ad hoc and oftenunsupported assumptions inherent to the Shklovsky method. Planetary nebulae morphologies, central star masses and nebular properties.We have constituted a sample of about 80 PN with defined morphologiesand well observed basic parameters (fluxes, angular radii, expansionvelocities and magnitudes of the central stars). For these PN, we havederived the central star masses by comparing the observed set ofparameters with those predicted by a simple evolutionary model of a PN,expanding at the same velocity as the observed one. We have thenexamined the relations between the PN morphological types and otherproperties, linked to the central star mass. Bipolar PN are shown tohave a wider distribution of central star masses than the rest of PN,and shifted towards higher values. They lie closer to the Galactic planeand tend to have larger N/O ratios. Point symmetric PN, which have notbeen much studied so far, are found to constitute an outstanding class.They show an almost perfect M_*_-v_exp_ correlation. They correspond toa rather short evolutionary stage of PN. They lie, on average, furtherfrom the Galactic plane than bipolar PN and tend to have lower N/O.Globally, PN with higher central star masses are found closer to theGalactic plane, and the observed relation between N/O and M_*_ isroughly consistent with the predictions from evolutionary models for AGBstars. Planetary nebulae: understanding the physical and chemical evolution of dying stars.Not Available Non-LTE model atmospheres analyses of faint PN central stars observed with Keck HIRESNot Available [N II] and [O III] Mean Electron Temperatures in Planetary NebulaeMean electron tempertures for 106 planetary nebulae are presented, whichhave been derived using calculations of the values of electrontemperature-sensitive line ratios involving forbidden transitions amongthe 2s^2 2p^2 3P, 1D, and 1S levels of N+ and O++, based on new electronimpact rates and transition probabilities. Comparison of these resultswith values of T_e[N II] and T_e[O III] determined previously by Kalerreveal that the present electron temperatures are systematically lowerfor both ions, and that this discrepancy is correlated with the electrondensity in the nebula. It is also shown that the average differencetween T_e[N II] and T_e[O III] in a planetary nebula is somewhat smallerthan that derived by Kaler, with the present results implying that the NII and O III temperatures disagree on average by 2070 K as opposed tothe 2210 K average found by Kaler. (SECTION: Interstellar Medium andNebulae) H2 Emission from Planetary Nebulae: Signpost of Bipolar StructureAbstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1996ApJ...462..777K&db_key=AST
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