The Molecular Exoskeleton of the Ring-like Planetary Nebula NGC 3132

Autor: Joel H. Kastner, David J. Wilner, Paula Moraga Baez, Jesse Bublitz, Orsola De Marco, Raghvendra Sahai, Al Wootten
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Astrophysical Journal, Vol 965, Iss 1, p 21 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1538-4357
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad2848
Popis: We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) mapping of ^12 CO J = 2 → 1, ^13 CO J = 2 → 1, and CN N = 2 → 1 emission from the ring-like planetary nebula NGC 3132, one of the subjects of JWST Early Release Observation near-infrared imaging. The ∼5″ resolution SMA data demonstrate that the Southern Ring’s main, bright, molecule-rich ring is indeed an expanding ring, as opposed to a limb-brightened shell, in terms of its intrinsic (physical) structure. This suggests that NGC 3132 is a bipolar nebula viewed more or less pole-on (inclination ∼15°–30°). The SMA data furthermore reveal that the nebula harbors a second expanding molecular ring that is aligned almost orthogonally to the main, bright molecular ring. We propose that this two-ring structure is the remnant of an ellipsoidal molecular envelope of ejecta that terminated the progenitor star’s asymptotic giant branch evolution and was subsequently disrupted by a series of misaligned fast, collimated outflows or jets resulting from interactions between the progenitor and one or more companions.
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