Bibcode
DOI
Dopita, Michael; Vassiliadis, E.; Bianchi, Luciana
Bibliographical reference
Astrophysical Journal v.480, p.290
Advertised on:
5
1997
Citations
9
Refereed citations
8
Description
Three planetary nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) were
observed with the Faint Object Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space
Telescope. Their central stars display P Cygni--like features in the
ultraviolet. We modeled these profiles to derive the stellar wind
velocities. The wind velocities of the LMC planetary nebula nuclei
(PNNs) are comparable to those of some Galactic counterparts, but other
Galactic objects of similar temperatures exist with higher wind
velocities. One object, LMC-SMP 61, has a Wolf-Rayet (WR) type central
star. For this nucleus we derived a wind velocity of -1600 km s-1 and an
upper limit to the mass-loss rate of M dot <= 7 x 10-7 M&sun; yr-1
from the He and C lines. The observed continuum emission in the UV and
optical range is modeled with a combination of stellar and nebular
contributions, yielding independent determinations of stellar and
nebular quantities. The sample is numerically too limited for a
significant comparison between LMC and Galactic PNN populations, but
represents the first exploration of mass-loss properties of evolved
stellar objects beyond the Milky Way.