Detecting Planets in Planetary Nebulae

Abstract

We examine the possibility of detecting signatures of surviving Uranus-Neptune-like planets inside planetary nebulae. Planets that are not too close to the stars, orbital separation larger than about 5 AU, are likely to survive the entire evolution of the star. As the star turns into a planetary nebula, it has a fast wind and a strong ionizing radiation. The interaction of the radiation and wind with a planet may lead to the formation of a compact condensation or tail inside the planetary nebula, which emits strongly in Halpha, but not in [OIII]. The position of the condensation (or tail) will change over a time of about 10 years. Such condensations might be detected with currently existing telescopes.

Latex, uses aasms4.sty, 10 pages, preprint

References in corpus (2)

• The Discovery of a Planetary Companion to 16 Cygni B
• Keck Speckle Imaging of the White Dwarf G29-38: No Brown Dwarf Companion Detected

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• HD172481: a super lithium-rich metal-deficient post-AGB binary with a red AGB companion
• Constraining planet formation around 6$M_{\odot }$-8$M_{\odot }$ stars
• Molecular and Atomic Excitation Stratification in the Outflow of the Planetary Nebula M27
• Comparing shocks in planetary nebulae with the solar wind termination shock