Bibcode
Rilinger, A.; Kwitter, K. B.; Balick, B.; Corradi, R. L. M.; Galera Rosillo, R.; Jacoby, George H.; Shaw, Richard A.
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #229, id.148.09
Advertised on:
1
2017
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We have obtained spectra of 8 luminous planetary nebulae (PNe) in M31
and 4 in the Large Magellanic Cloud with the goal of understanding their
properties and those of their progenitor stars. These PNe are at or near
the M* region (the most luminous PNe) in their respective galaxies. M31
PNe were observed at the Gran Telescopio Canarias using the OSIRIS
spectrograph; LMC PNe were observed with the FORS2 spectrograph at the
Very Large Telescope. Line intensities were measured in IRAF. Using our
n-level atom program, ELSA (Johnson, et.al, 2006, Planetary Nebulae in
our Galaxy and Beyond, 234, 439), we determined temperature, density,
and elemental abundances for each nebula. We then modeled the nebulae
and central stars with Cloudy (Ferland, et al. 1998, PASP, 110, 761). We
plan to use these models of the central stars to estimate the masses and
ages of the progenitor stars. We hope to discover whether the progenitor
stars of M* PNe exhibit consistently different characteristics from
those of other PNe progenitors.