The planetary nebula K 1-2 and its binary central star VW Pyx
Abstract
New data are presented of the post-common-envelope binary VW Pyx and its associated planetary nebula (PN), K 1-2. The central star is found to be a single-lined (and possibly double-lined) spectroscopic binary and is a good candidate for a system in which the main-sequence secondary star is more massive than the subdwarf primary star. The old PN has a high excitation level and a measured electron temperature, TO~ 17 000 K for an assumed log ne= 2.7 cm-3. The so-called `jets' are found to be lower-ionization regions with TN~ 11 000 K and TO~ 16 000 K with log ne~ 2.5 cm-3 and with low, but fairly typical, PN abundances. We discuss possible histories for K 1-2 and the jets. However, there are still many unknowns in the study of accretion and jet formation for such PN binary central stars.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- June 2003
- DOI:
- 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06505.x
- Bibcode:
- 2003MNRAS.341.1349E
- Keywords:
-
- binaries: close;
- binaries: spectroscopic;
- stars: individual: VW Pyx;
- stars: low-mass;
- brown dwarfs;
- planetary nebulae: individual: K 1-2