X-ray Studies of Planetary Nebulae

X-ray emission from planetary nebulae (PNe) provides unique insight on the formation and evolution of PNe. Past observations and the ongoing Chandra Planetary Nebulae Survey (ChanPlaNS) provide a consensus on the two types of X-ray emission detected from PNe: extended and compact point-like sources. Extended X-ray emission arises from a shocked ``hot bubble'' plasma that resides within the nebular shell. Cooler than expected hot bubble plasma temperatures spurred a number of potential solutions with one emerging as the likely dominate process. The origin of X-ray emission from compact sources at the location of the central star is less clear. These sources might arise from one or combinations of the following processes: self-shocking stellar winds, spun-up binary companions, and/or accretion, perhaps from mass transfer, PN fallback, or debris disks. In the discovery phase, X-ray studies of PNe have mainly focused on the origin of the various emission processes. New directions incorporate multi-wavelength observations to study the influence of X-ray emission on the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum.