A view of the solar neighbourhood: the local population of planetary nebulae and their mimics

Abstract

We have, for the first time, compiled a nearly complete census of planetary nebulae (PNe) centred on the Sun. Our goal is the generation of an unbiased volume-limited sample, in order to answer some long-standing statistical questions regarding the overall population of Galactic disk PNe and their central stars. Much improved discrimination of classical PNe from their mimics is now possible based on the wide variety of high-quality multiwavelength data sets that are now available. However, we note that evidence is increasing that PNe are heterogeneous, and probably derived from multiple evolutionary scenarios. We give some preliminary data on the relative frequencies of different types of PNe in the local Galactic disk.

arXiv comment6 pages, 1 figure, Proceedings of the Asymmetric Planetary Nebula V Conference (Lake District, England, June 2010)

References in corpus (4)

• V605 Aquilae: a born again star, a nova or both?
• Prediction of close binarity based on planetary nebula morphology
• The Physical Characteristics of Binary Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae
• New results on planetary nebula shaping and stellar binarity

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• A catalogue of integrated H-alpha fluxes for 1,258 Galactic planetary nebulae
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• The planetary nebula Abell 48 and its [WN] nucleus
• Evidence for a [WR] or WEL-type binary nucleus in the bipolar planetary nebula Vy 1-2
• Are planetary nebulae derived from multiple evolutionary scenarios?
• Planetary Nebula Surveys: Past, Present and Future