Barlow, MJ;
(2006)
Planetary nebulae beyond the milky way - Historical overview.
In: Stanghellini, L and Walsh, JR and Douglas, NG, (eds.)
Planetary Nebulae Beyond the Milky Way. ESO ASTROPHYSICS SYMPOSIA European Southern Observatory.
(pp. pp. 3-14).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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Abstract
Up to 10% of the total luminosity of a planetary nebula, ~500 L⊙, can be emitted in the dominant cooling line, [O iii] λ5007. This, coupled with the narrowness of the line (~15-25 km s-1), makes it extremely easy to detect PNe in external galaxies using a narrow-band lter tuned to the galaxy redshift. The availability of multiple independent distance indicators for our closest neighbouring galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds and M 31, means that the luminosities of the PNe in these galaxies (in particular the large numbers of PNe in the LMC) can be used to calibrate PN luminosity functions, which have been used over the past 15 years as probes of the Hubble constant. Given the fact that we still do not have accurate distances for most planetary nebulae in the Milky Way, this has been an astonishing development. Unlike H ii regions, which cannot be used to probe elliptical galaxies, planetary nebulae can be used to probe the dynamics and metallicity of any type of galaxy. Today, via accurate radial velocity measurements, extragalactic PNe are being used as dynamical mass probes of galaxies, and even of the stellar mass content of the intracluster regions of galaxy clusters, with dedicated ‘planetary nebula spectrographs’ being built to further such studies. The angular resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope has turned out to be ideally suited to the study of PNe in the LMC and SMC, and the exploitation of the accurately known distances to these two galaxies has allowed reliable luminosities and masses to be derived for the central stars and nebulae, thereby putting PN research on a much more quantitative footing.
| Type: | Proceedings paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | Planetary nebulae beyond the milky way - Historical overview |
| Event: | Workshop on Planetary Nebulae Beyond the Milky Way |
| Location: | ESO Headquarters, Garching, GERMANY |
| Dates: | 19 May 2004 - 21 May 2004 |
| ISBN: | 3-540-31011-8 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/11604792_1 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/11604792_1 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10109087 |
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