The Transformation of an AGB Star to a Planetary Nebula: How the Journey Begins

We report the results from an HST imaging survey of a sample of late AGB stars with a detected history of extensive past mass-loss, i.e., those in which this process has now come to an end. The goal of this survey is to identify and characterise the earliest stages of the process that transforms these objects, first into bipolar or multipolar pre-planetary nebulae (PPNe), and then into similarly-shaped planetary nebulae. Since the cessation of mass-loss leads to the lack of hot dust close to the star, their thermal emission at short ( 25 micron) wavelengths, is expected to be lower than that for typical AGB stars. We have therefore used the IRAS 25 to 12 micron flux ratio, F25/F12 > 0.33 (but < 0.67 in order to exclude PPNe), to select a list of 60 such ``nascent pre-planetary nebulae" (or nPPNe); 48 were imaged in our SNAPshot imaging program. We found compact, but non-stellar, morphologies in about a quarter of our observed sample. The remaining objects are either unresolved, or only marginally resolved. Aspherical structure is seen in the resolved objects. The aspherical structure in nPPNe is different from that observed in PPNe, which generally show limb-brightened, roughly equal-sized lobes on both sides of the center. In contrast, only one-sided structures are seen in our survey nPPNe. In some objects, a diffuse, round, halo is also seen, representing the undisturbed AGB mass-loss envelope. A few sources show discrete circular (partial) arc-like features. The discovery of the one-side collimated features, together with detailed earlier studies of a few nPPNe (e.g. V Hya, IRC+10216), supports the hypothesis that the mechanism for creating the large-scale density inhomogeneties are high velocity outflows carving the AGB mass-loss envelope from the inside out.