Physical Structure of Planetary Nebulae. I. The Owl Nebula

The Owl Nebula is a triple-shell planetary nebula with the outermost shell being a faint bow-shaped halo. We have obtained deep narrowband images and high-dispersion echelle spectra in the Hα, [O III], and [N II] emission lines to determine the physical structure of each shell in the nebula. These spatiokinematic data allow us to rule out hydrodynamic models that can reproduce only the nebular morphology. Our analysis shows that the inner shell of the main nebula is slightly elongated with a bipolar cavity along its major axis, the outer nebula is a filled envelope coexpanding with the inner shell at 40 km s^-1, and the halo has been braked by the interstellar medium as the Owl Nebula moves through it. To explain the morphology and kinematics of the Owl Nebula, we suggest the following scenario for its formation and evolution. The early mass loss at the TP-AGB phase forms the halo, and the superwind at the end of the AGB phase forms the main nebula. The subsequent fast stellar wind compressed the superwind to form the inner shell and excavated an elongated cavity at the center, but this has ceased in the past. At the current old age the inner shell is backfilling the central cavity.

Based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, and with the Burrell Schmidt telescope of the Warner and Swasey Observatory, Case Western Reserve University.