Near-IR emission line imaging of PN

Extract

Spatial studies of the emission line regions in planetary nebulae (PN) can provide insight into the physical and chemical environments across the nebulae. In a collaborative effort by the coauthors, a K-band Fabry-Perot etalon has been coupled with an advanced 256 × 256 InSb focal plane array at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory 2.3m telescope. This system permits us to obtain spatially resolved, 0.24″/pixel, moderate spectral resolution (R ≈ 800), flux-density IR emission line images of astronomical sources. We obtained continuum-subtracted images of Br γ, HeI 2.06 μm, the 2-μm UIR features, and the 3.3 μm PAH dust feature in the PN NGC 6572, NGC 7027, and NGC 7662. One objective was to determine the spatial morphology of two unidentified emission lines, UIR1−2.199 μm, and UIR2−2.287 μm (Geballe et al. 1991). These UIR lines appear in the spectra of many PN (Hora et al. 1997) and in the Orion Nebula (Luhman & Rieke 1996). Geballe et al. suggested that the UIR lines are most likely forbidden transitions and showed that the parent ion ionization potential is ≈ 30–40 eV, while the ionization potential for the ions themselves is 40–60 eV. Here we directly compare the distribution of the UIR emitters to that of the gas (H⁺,He⁺) and dust (PAHs).