Spectroscopic survey of faint planetary-nebula nuclei. III. A [WC] central star and two new PG1159 nuclei

We present spectroscopy of three hydrogen-deficient central stars of faint planetary nebulae, with effective temperatures (T_eff) in excess of 100 000 K. The nucleus of RaMul 2 is a Population II Wolf-Rayet star of spectral type [WC], and the central stars of Abell 25 and StDr 138 are two new members of the PG1159 class. Our spectral analyses reveal that their atmospheres have a similar chemical composition. They are dominated by helium and carbon, which was probably caused by a late helium-shell flash. Coincidentally, the three stars have similar masses of about M = 0.53 M_⊙ and hence form a post-asymptotic giant branch (AGB) evolutionary sequence of an initially early-K-type main sequence star with M = 0.8 M_⊙. The central stars cover the period during which the luminosity fades from about 3000 to 250 L_⊙ and the radius shrinks from about 0.15 to 0.03 R_⊙. The concurrent increase of the surface gravity during this interval from log g = 5.8 to 7.2 causes the shutdown of the stellar wind from an initial mass-loss rate of log Ṁ/(M_⊙ yr⁻¹) = −6.4, as measured for the [WC] star. Along the contraction phase, we observe an increase in T_eff from 112 000 K, marked by the [WC] star, to the maximum value of 140 000 K, and a subsequent cooling to 130 000 K, marked by the two PG1159 stars.

The reduced spectra of the central stars shown in Figs. 1-3 are available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/686/A29

Based on observations obtained with the HET, which is a joint project of the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania State University, Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität München, and Georg-August Universität Göttingen. The HET is named in honor of its principal benefactors, William P. Hobby and Robert E. Eberly.