Spectroscopy of planetary nebulae in M 33

Magrini, L.; Perinotto, M.; Corradi, R. L. M.; Mampaso, A.
Bibliographical reference

Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.400, p.511-520 (2003)

Advertised on:
3
2003
Number of authors
4
IAC number of authors
2
Citations
28
Refereed citations
25
Description
Spectroscopic observations of 48 emission-line objects of M 33 have been obtained with the multi-object, wide field, fibre spectrograph AF2/WYFFOS at the 4.2 m WHT telescope (La Palma, Spain). Line intensities and logarithmic extinction, cbeta , are presented for 42 objects. Their location in the Sabbadin & D'Odorico diagnostic diagram (Hα /[S II] vs. Hα /[N II]) suggests that >70% of the candidates are Planetary Nebulae (PNe). Chemical abundances and nebular physical parameters have been derived for the three of the six PNe where the 4363 Å, [O II]i emission line was measurable. These are disc PNe, located within a galactocentric distance of 4.1 kpc, and, to date, they are the farthest PNe with a direct chemical abundance determination. No discrepancy in the helium, Oxygen and Argon abundances has been found in comparison with corresponding abundances of PNe in our Galaxy. Only a lower limit to the sulphur abundance has been obtained since we could not detect any [S III] line. N/H appears to be lower than the Galactic value; some possible explanations for this under-abundance are discussed. Based on observations obtained at the 4.2 m WHT telescope operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.