The 3-D View of Planetary Nebulae

By taking a 3-D view of Planetary Nebulae (PNe) we show that the large uncertainties associated with classical methods of modeling and observing PNe to obtain their 3-D structures, distances and physical parameters are significantly reduced. Using long slit or Integral Field Unit spectrophotometry to constrain modern 3-D photoionization models for PNe, we determine detailed 3-D structures, central star parameters, and distances accurate to 10-20% by eliminating the uncertainties in the density and filling factor. Traditional 1-D methods gave distances to typically a factor of 3 or more with the associated very large uncertainties on the physical parameters of the objects.