The early interaction of the planetary nebula NGC 40 with the interstellar medium

J. Martin, K. Xilouris, N. Soker*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the detection of an Ha emission-line structure in the upstream side of the planetary nebula NGC 40, which is predicted by numerical simulations, and which is attributed to Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Such a Rayleigh-Taylor instability is expected to occur at early stages of the interaction process between the interstellar medium (ISM) and a fast moving planetary nebula, as is the case for NGC 40. We resolved the Rayleigh-Taylor instability "tongues", as well as the flatness of the nebula around the "tongues", which results from the deceleration by the ISM.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)689-692
Number of pages4
JournalAstronomy and Astrophysics
Volume391
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2002
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Instabilities
  • ISM: structure
  • Planetary nebulae: general
  • Planetary nebulae: individual: NGC 40

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