Many massive stars travel through the interstellar medium at supersonic speeds. As a result they form bow shocks at the interface between the stellar wind. We use numerical hydrodynamics to reproduce such bow shocks numerically, creating models that
can be compared to observations. In this paper we discuss the influence of two physical phenomena, interstellar magnetic fields and the presence of interstellar dust grains on the observable shape of the bow shocks of massive stars. We find that the interstellar magnetic field, though too weak to restrict the general shape of the bow shock, reduces the size of the instabilities that would otherwise be observed in the bow shock of a red supergiant. The interstellar dust grains, due to their inertia can penetrate deep into the bow shock structure of a main sequence O-supergiant, crossing over from the ISM into the stellar wind. Therefore, the dust distribution may not always reflect the morphology of the gas. This is an important consideration for infrared observations, which are dominated by dust emission. Our models clearly show, that the bow shocks of massive stars are useful diagnostic tools that can used to investigate the properties of both the stellar wind as well as the interstellar medium.
Obscured by their circumstellar dusty envelopes post-AGB stars emit a large fraction of their energy in the infrared and thus, infrared sky surveys like IRAS were essential for discoveries of post-AGBs in the past. Now, with the AKARI infrared sky su
rvey we can extend our knowledge about the late stages of stellar evolution. The long-term goal of our work is to define new photometric criteria to distinguish new post-AGB candidates from the AKARI data.
We present the results of our preliminary study of all known Galactic PNe (included in the Kerber 2003 catalog) which are detected by the AKARI/FIS All-Sky Survey as identified in the AKARI/FIS Bright Source Catalog (BSC) Version Beta-1.
We present first preliminary results from AKARI/FIS pointed observations of post-AGB stars and planetary nebulae (PNe). A first analysis of the radial (azimuthally averaged) profile of the observed sources shows no evidence for excess emission due to
the presence of circumstellar dust. No (detached) circumstellar faint dust-shells are seen in the image maps. Also, we present here first results of aperture flux photometry at wavelengths of 65, 90, 140 and 160 micron. Results are compared with IRAS flux densities as well as the beta release of the FIS Bright Source Catalog. Finally, spectral energy distributions are given, by way of an example, for two individual targets in our sample.
