A Spitzer Study of the Mass Loss Histories of Three Bipolar Pre-Planetary Nebulae

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dc.creatorDo, Tuan
dc.creatorMorris, Mark
dc.creatorSahai, Raghvendra
dc.creatorStapelfeldt, Karl
dc.date2007-07-03
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T11:17:28Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T11:17:28Z
dc.descriptionWe present the results of far-infrared imaging of extended regions around three bipolar pre-planetary nebulae, AFGL 2688, OH 231.8+4.2, and IRAS 16342$-$3814, at 70 and 160 $μ$m with the MIPS instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope. After a careful subtraction of the point spread function of the central star from these images, we place constraints on the existence of extended shells and thus on the mass outflow rates as a function of radial distance from these stars. We find no apparent extended emission in AFGL 2688 and OH 231.8+4.2 beyond 100 arcseconds from the central source. In the case of AFGL 2688, this result is inconsistent with a previous report of two extended dust shells made on the basis of ISO observations. We derive an upper limit of $2.1\times10^{-7}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ and $1.0\times10^{-7}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ for the dust mass loss rate of AFGL 2688 and OH 231.8, respectively, at 200 arcseconds from each source. In contrast to these two sources, IRAS 16342$-$3814 does show extended emission at both wavelengths, which can be interpreted as a very large dust shell with a radius of $\sim$ 400 arcseconds and a thickness of $\sim$ 100 arcseconds, corresponding to 4 pc and 1 pc, respectively, at a distance of 2 kpc. However, this enhanced emission may also be galactic cirrus; better azimuthal coverage is necessary for confirmation of a shell. If the extended emission is a shell, it can be modeled as enhanced mass outflow at a dust mass outflow rate of $1.5\times10^{-6}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ superimposed on a steady outflow with a dust mass outflow rate of $1.5\times10^{-7}$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$. It is likely that this shell has swept up a substantial mass of interstellar gas during its expansion, so these estimates are upper limits to the stellar mass loss rate.
dc.description31 pages, 12 figures, accepted to AJ
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0707.0468
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0707.0468
dc.identifierAstron.J.134:1419-1431,2007
dc.identifierdoi:10.1086/521553
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/193020
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleA Spitzer Study of the Mass Loss Histories of Three Bipolar Pre-Planetary Nebulae
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