Status of the spectroscopic survey of planetary nebulae.

A current-status report is presented for the PN survey begun in 1984 (Stenholm and Lundstrom, 1984) with the Boller and Chivens spectrograph and IDS detector on the 1.52-m telescope at ESO and with the Carelec spectrograph and CCD detector on the 1.93-m telescope at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence. The instruments are briefly characterized; the spatial distribution of the 1563 PN candidates (of which 718 had been observed as of August 1986) is indicated in a histogram; and problems of spectral classification are discussed. Of the 718 observed objects, 161 have been shown not to be true PN (including 74 symbiotic stars, 14 H II regions, 18 galaxies, 4 reflection nebulae, 1 SNR knot, 13 plate faults, and 37 undetected or uncertain).