Bibcode
Miller, T. R.; Henry, Richard B. C.; Dufour, Reginald J.; Kwitter, Karen B.; Shaw, Richard A.; Balick, Bruce; Corradi, R. L. M.
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #225, #140.48
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1
2015
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We present an analysis of five spatially resolved planetary nebulae
(PNe), NGC 5315, NGC 5882, NGC 7662, IC 2165, and IC 3568, from
observations in the Cycle 19 program GO 12600 using HST STIS. Details of
the observations and data are presented in the poster by Dufour et al.
in this session. These five observations cover the wavelength range
1150-10,270 Å with 0.2 and 0.5 arcsec wide slits, and are
co-spatial to 0.1 arcsec along a 25 arcsec length across each nebula.
This unprecedented resolution in both wavelength and spatial coverage
enabled detailed studies of physical conditions and abundances from UV
line ion emissions (compared to optical lines). We first analyzed the
low- and moderate-resolution UV emission lines of carbon using the
resolved lines of C III] 1906.68 and 1908.73, which yielded a direct
measurement of the density within the volume occupied by doubly-ionized
carbon and other similar co-spatial ions. Next, each PN spectrum was
divided into spatial sub-regions in order to assess inferred density
variations among the sub-regions along the entire slit. Variations in
electron temperature and chemical abundances were also probed. Lastly,
these nebulae were modeled in detail with the photoionization code
CLOUDY. This modeling tested different density profiles in order to
reproduce the observed density variations and temperature fluctuations,
and constrain central star parameters. We gratefully acknowledge
generous support from NASA through grants related to the Cycle 19
program GO 12600, as well as from the University of Oklahoma.