The Evolution of the Nuclei of Planetary Nebulae

In the past decade, planetary nebulae have assumed considerable importance in elucidating our understanding of the final stages of stellar evolution at low mass. This began with the work of Shklovsky, O’Dell and Seaton, who showed not only that the nuclei of these nebulae were among the hottest stellar objects, but also that they evolved on a track in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (the Harman-Seaton sequence) on a time scale very rapid by stellar evolutionary standards ( 20,000 years).