The messy death of a multiple star system and the resulting planetary nebula as observed by JWST
Journal article, 2022
Planetary nebulae—the ejected envelopes of red giant stars—provide us with a history of the last, mass-losing phases of 90% of stars initially more massive than the Sun. Here we analyse images of the planetary nebula NGC 3132 from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Early Release Observations. A structured, extended hydrogen halo surrounding an ionized central bubble is imprinted with spiral structures, probably shaped by a low-mass companion orbiting the central star at about 40–60 au. The images also reveal a mid-infrared excess at the central star, interpreted as a dusty disk, which is indicative of an interaction with another closer companion. Including the previously known A-type visual companion, the progenitor of the NGC 3132 planetary nebula must have been at least a stellar quartet. The JWST images allow us to generate a model of the illumination, ionization and hydrodynamics of the molecular halo, demonstrating the power of JWST to investigate complex stellar outflows. Furthermore, new measurements of the A-type visual companion allow us to derive the value for the mass of the progenitor of a central star with excellent precision: 2.86 ± 0.06 M⊙. These results serve as pathfinders for future JWST observations of planetary nebulae, providing unique insight into fundamental astrophysical processes including colliding winds and binary star interactions, with implications for supernovae and gravitational-wave systems.
Author
O. De Marco
Macquarie University
Muhammad Akashi
Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
S. Akras
National Observatory of Athens
J. Alcolea
Spanish National Observatory (OAN)
I. Aleman
Federal University of Itajubá
P. Amram
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
B. Balick
University of Washington
Elvire De Beck
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
E. G. Blackman
University of Rochester
Henri M. J. Boffin
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Panos Boumis
National Observatory of Athens
Jesse Bublitz
Green Bank Observatory
Beatrice Bucciarelli
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
V. Bujarrabal
Spanish National Observatory (OAN)
Jan Cami
SETI Institute
Western University
Nicholas Chornay
University of Cambridge
Y. H. Chu
Academia Sinica
Romano L.M. Corradi
GRANTECAN
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Adam Frank
University of Rochester
D. A. García-Hernández
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of La Laguna
Jorge García-Rojas
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of La Laguna
G. García-Segura
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Veronica Gómez-Llanos
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of La Laguna
Denise R. Goncalves
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
M. A. Guerrero
Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA)
David Jones
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
University of La Laguna
Amanda I. Karakas
ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D)
Monash University
J. H. Kastner
Rochester Institute of Technology
Sun Kwok
University of British Columbia (UBC)
F. Lykou
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Research Centre For Astronomy and Earth Sciences
Arturo Manchado
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
M. Matsuura
Cardiff University
I. McDonald
Open University
University of Manchester
Brent Miszalski
Macquarie University
S. Mohamed
South African Astronomical Observatory
National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS)
University of Miami
University of Cape Town
Ana Monreal-Ibero
Leiden University
Hektor Monteiro
Federal University of Itajubá
R. Montez
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Paula Moraga Baez
Rochester Institute of Technology
Christophe Morisset
University of La Laguna
J. Nordhaus
Rochester Institute of Technology
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Claudia Mendes de Oliveira
University of Sao Paulo (USP)
Zara Osborn
Monash University
ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D)
M. Otsuka
Kyoto University
Quentin A. Parker
The Laboratory for Space Research
The University of Hong Kong
Els Peeters
SETI Institute
Western University
Bruno C. Quint
Rubin Observatory Project Office
G. Quintana-Lacaci
CSIC - Instituto de Fisica Fundamental (IFF)
Matt Redman
National University of Ireland
Ashley J. Ruiter
University of New South Wales at Australian Defence Force Academy
L. Sabin
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
R. Sahai
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Carmen Sánchez Contreras
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
M. Santander-García
Spanish National Observatory (OAN)
Ivo Seitenzahl
University of New South Wales at Australian Defence Force Academy
Noam Soker
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Angela K. Speck
The University of Texas at San Antonio
Letizia Stanghellini
NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab)
Wolfgang Steffen
AstroPhysical MediaStudio
J. A. Toala
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
T. Ueta
University of Denver
G. Van de Steene
Royal Observatory of Belgium
H. van Winckel
KU Leuven
P. Ventura
Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma
E. Villaver
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
Wouter Vlemmings
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Jeremy R. Walsh
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
R. Wesson
Cardiff University
A. Zijlstra
University of Manchester
Nature Astronomy
23973366 (eISSN)
Vol. 6 12 1421-1432Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Computer Vision and Robotics (Autonomous Systems)
Medical Image Processing
DOI
10.1038/s41550-022-01845-2