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Register a new userThe Expansion Proper Motions of the Planetary Nebula NGC 6302 from HST imaging
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Planetary nebulae expand on time scales of 10^3-10^4 yr. For nearby objects, their expansion can be detected within years to decades. The pattern of expansion probes the internal velocity field and provides clues to the nebula ejection mechanism. In the case of non-symmetric nebulae, and bipolar nebulae in particular, it can also provide information on the development of the morphology. We have measured the expansion proper motions in NGC 6302 from two epochs of HST imaging, separated by 9.43 years. This is used to determine the expansion age and the structure of the velocity field. We use HST images in the [N II] 6583{AA} filter from HST WF/PC2 and WFC3. The proper motions were obtained for a set of 200 individual tiles within 90 of the central star. The velocity field shows a characteristic linear increase of velocity with radial distance (a so-called Hubble flow). It agrees well with a previous determination by Meaburn et al. (2008), made in a lobe further from the star, which was based on a much longer time span. The pattern of proper motion vectors is mostly radial and the origin is close to the position of the central star directly detected by Szyszka et al. (2009). The results show that the lobes of NGC 6302 were ejected during a brief event 2250 pm 35yr ago. In the inner regions there is evidence for a subsequent acceleration of the gas by an additional 9.2 km/s, possibly related to the onset of ionization. The dense and massive molecular torus was ejected over 5000yr, ending about 2900yr ago. The lobes were ejected after a short interlude (the jet lag) of sim 600 yr during a brief event. The torus and lobes orig- inate from separate mass-loss events with different physical processes. The delay between the cessation of equatorial mass loss and the ejection of the lobes provides an important constraint for explaining the final mass-loss stages of the progenitor stellar system.
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The primary aim is to establish a firm value for the distance to the extraordinary planetary nebula KjPn 8. Secondary aims are to measure the ages of the three giant lobes of this object as well as estimate the energy in the eruption, that caused the most energetic outflow, for comparison with that of an intermediate luminosity optical transient (ILOT). For these purposes a mosaic of images in the Halpha+[N II] optical emission lines has been obtained with the new Aristarchos telescope in 2011 for comparison with the images of the KjPn 8 giant lobes present on the POSSI-R 1954 and POSSII-R 1991 plates. Expansion proper motions of features over this 57 yr baseline in the outflows are present. Using these, a firm distance to KjPn 8 of 1.8 +- 0.3 kpc has been derived for now the angle of the latest outflow to the sky has been established from HST imagery of the nebular core. Previously, the uncertain predictions of a bow-shock model were used for this purpose. The dynamical ages of the three separate outflows that form the giant lobes of KjPn 8 are also directly measured as 3200, 7200 and >= 5x10^4 yr respectively which confirms their sequential ejection. Moreover, the kinetic energy of the youngest and most energetic of these is measured as ~10^47 erg which is compatible with an ILOT origin.
NGC 6302 is one of the highest ionization planetary nebulae known and shows emission from species with ionization potential >300eV. The temperature of the central star must be >200,000K to photoionize the nebula, and has been suggested to be up to ~ 400,000K. On account of the dense dust and molecular disc, the central star has not convincingly been directly imaged until now. NGC 6302 was imaged in six narrow band filters by Wide Field Camera 3 on HST as part of the Servicing Mission 4 Early Release Observations. The central star is directly detected for the first time, and is situated at the nebula centre on the foreground side of the tilted equatorial disc. The magnitudes of the central star have been reliably measured in two filters(F469N and F673N). Assuming a hot black body, the reddening has been measured from the (4688-6766AA) colour and a value of c=3.1, A_v=6.6 mag determined. A G-K main sequence binary companion can be excluded. The position of the star on the HR diagram suggests a fairly massive PN central star of about 0.64,M_sun close to the white dwarf cooling track. A fit to the evolutionary tracks for (T,L,t)=(200,000K, 2000L_sun, 2200yr), where t is the nebular age, is obtained; however the luminosity and temperature remain uncertain. The model tracks predict that the star is rapidly evolving, and fading at a rate of almost 1 % per year. Future observations could test this prediction.
The high excitation planetary nebula, NGC 6302, has been imaged in two far-ultraviolet (FUV) filters, F169M (Sapphire; {lambda}$_{rm eff}$: 1608 {AA}) and F172M (Silica; {lambda}$_{rm eff}$: 1717 {AA}) and two NUV filters, N219M (B15; {lambda}$_{rm eff}$: 2196 {AA}) and N279N (N2; {lambda}$_{rm eff}$: 2792 {AA}) with the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT). The FUV F169M image shows faint emission lobes that extend to about 5 arcmin on either side of the central source. Faint orthogonal collimated jet-like structures are present on either side of the FUV lobes through the central source. These structures are not present in the two NUV filters nor in the FUV F172M filter. Optical and IR images of NGC 6302 show bright emission bipolar lobes in the east-west direction with a massive torus of molecular gas and dust seen as a dark lane in the north-south direction. The FUV lobes are much more extended and oriented at a position angle of 113{deg}. They and the jet-like structures might be remnants of an earlier evolutionary phase, prior to the dramatic explosive event that triggered the Hubble type bipolar flows approximately 2200 years ago. The source of the FUV lobe and jet emission is not known, but is likely due to fluorescent emission from H$_2$ molecules. The cause of the difference in orientation of optical and FUV lobes is not clear and, we speculate, could be related to two binary interactions.
We present the results of a comprehensive, near-UV-to-near-IR Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 imaging study of the young planetary nebula (PN) NGC 6302, the archetype of the class of extreme bi-lobed, pinched-waist PNe that are rich in dust and molecular gas. The new WFC3 emission-line image suite clearly defines the dusty toroidal equatorial structure that bisects NGC 6302s polar lobes, and the fine structures (clumps, knots, and filaments) within the lobes. The most striking aspect of the new WFC3 image suite is the bright, S-shaped 1.64 micron [Fe II] emission that traces the southern interior of the east lobe rim and the northern interior of the west lobe rim, in point-symmetric fashion. We interpret this [Fe II] emitting region as a zone of shocks caused by ongoing, fast (~100 km/s), collimated, off-axis winds from NGC 6302s central star(s). The [Fe II] emission and a zone of dusty, N- and S-rich clumps near the nebular symmetry axis form wedge-shaped structures on opposite sides of the core, with boundaries marked by sharp azimuthal ionization gradients. Comparison of our new images with earlier HST/WFC3 imaging reveals that the object previously identified as NGC 6302s central star is a foreground field star. Shell-like inner lobe features may instead pinpoint the obscured central stars actual position within the nebulas dusty central torus. The juxtaposition of structures revealed in this HST/WFC3 imaging study of NGC 6302 presents a daunting challenge for models of the origin and evolution of bipolar PNe.
Spatially resolved profiles of the Halpha and [NII] lines have been obtained at unprecendented signal--to--noise ratios over the outflowing lobes of the high--excitation, poly--polar planetary nebula NGC~6302. A deep image in the light of [NII]6584 A was also obtained of the extremities of the prominent north--western lobe. The Manchester Echelle spectrometer combined with the 2.1--m San Pedro Martir telescope (Mexico) was used for these observations. Firstly, an accurate value of the systemic heliocentric radial velocity of Vsys = -29.8 +/- 1 km/s has been established. Also, from `velocity ellipses across its diameter from previous observations the parallel--sided north--western lobe is shown to have a circular section with a tilt of its axis to the plane of the sky of 12.8 deg. With this starting point the pv arrays of profiles have been very closely simulated, using the SHAPE code, with Hubble-type outflows. The faint extremities of the north--western outflow are shown to be expanding at 600 km/s. The prominent lobes of NGC~6302 have then been generated in an eruptive event with a dynamical age of 1900 y for the expansion proper-motion distance of 1.04 +/- 0.16 kpc as measured here by comparing a 1956 image with that taken in 2002. Kinematical evidence of a high--speed `skirt around the nebular core, expanding nearly orthogonally to the lobes, is also presented as are the unusual motions at the western extremities of the NW lobe.
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