Authors: Matsuura, M.; Zijlstra, A. A.¹; Molster, F. J.²; Waters, L. B. F. M.; Nomura, H.; Sahai, R.³; Hoare, M. G.⁴

Source: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 359, Number 1, May 2005 , pp. 383-400(18)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Abstract:

The butterfly-shaped planetary nebula, NGC 6302, shows a unique, dense equatorial dark lane, which is presumably a dusty disc, obscuring an unobserved, very hot central star. We trace the structure of this disc using Hubble Space Telescope Hα and [Nii] images, Very Large Telescope L-and M-band images at 0.4-arcsec resolution, including Brα and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) images, and a James Clerk Maxwell Telescope 450-μm image. Extinction maps are derived from these images. Within the disc, the extinction is A_Hα= 5–7 mag and A_Brα= 1–2 mag . The 450-μm map shows a north–south elongated central core, tracing the massive dust disc, and extended emission from dust in the bipolar flows. A fit to the spectral energy distribution yields the disc dust mass of 0.03 M_⊙ . The innermost region shows an ionized shell. The orientation of the polar axis shows a marked change between shell, disc and inner and outer outflow. The structures are well described by the warped-disc model of Icke (2003). PAH images are presented: PAH emission is found in the shell but avoids the disc. An infrared source is found close to the expected location of the central star.

Keywords: dust, extinction; ISM: jets and outflows; planetary nebulae: individual: NGC 6302

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.08903.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Sackville Street, PO Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD 2: ESTEC, European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands 3: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, MS 183-900, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA 4: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT

Publication date: 2005-05-01

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