AAOmega radial velocities rule out current membership of the planetary nebula NGC 2438 in the open cluster M46
Abstract
We present new radial velocity measurements of 586 stars in a one-degree field centred on the open cluster M46, and the planetary nebula NGC 2438 located within a nuclear radius of the cluster. The data are based on medium-resolution optical and near-infrared spectra taken with the AAOmega spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. We find a velocity difference of about 30kms-1 between the cluster and nebula, thus removing all ambiguities about the cluster membership of the planetary nebula caused by contradicting results in the literature. The line-of-sight velocity dispersion of the cluster is 3.9 +/- 0.3kms-1, likely to be affected by a significant population of binary stars.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13899.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0809.0327
- Bibcode:
- 2008MNRAS.391..399K
- Keywords:
-
- planetary nebulae: general;
- open clusters and associations: general;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 6 pages + 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS