Bibcode
DOI
Esteban, Cesar; Vilchez, Jose M.; Smith, Linda J.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomical Journal (ISSN 0004-6256), vol. 107, no. 3, p. 1041-1053
Advertised on:
3
1994
Citations
13
Refereed citations
9
Description
We present high and low resolution spectroscopic observations for a
sample of seven ring nebulae around Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in M33: MC 27,
MC 44, MC 46, MC 51, MC 57, MC 65, and MC 70. An analysis of the
ionization structure of the nebulae indicates that photoionization is
the main source of excitation. Physical conditions and abundances have
been derived for the nebulae, and values consistent with the abundance
gradient of M33 are found. Moreover, an analysis of the spectra of three
WR central stars has been performed in order to re-assess previous
classifications. Two-dimensional Gaussian fits to the most intense
emission lines for each object (e.g., H alpha, N II, O III) have been
performed to establish the dynamical classification of the objects using
the scheme proposed by Chu (1981). The nebulae around MC 27 and MC 44 do
not present any evidence for expansion and are thus considered as pure
`stationary' shells or Rs objects. The remaining objects
observed at high resolution present more complex structures. The nebula
surrounding MC 51 consists of an expanding bubble immersed in a
stationary amorphous H II region; the nebulae associated with MC 46 and
MC 70 can be considered as a combination of an external stationary shell
and an internal bubble. If it is demonstrated that their central stars
are truly isolated, then these nebulae do not have equivalent
counterparts in the Galaxy. The physical properties of the three bubbles
discovered have been derived and compared thoroughly with those of
typical galactic wind-blown bubbles. On average, the Rs
shells seem to be larger than their galactic counterparts. This
difference in size and the presence of the shell + bubble structures
could reflect different physical conditions between the ambient
interstellar medium (ISM) in the galaxy and in M33.