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Scientific paper
Jul 1995
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995hst..prop.6119b&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #6119
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Hst Proposal Id #6119 Interstellar Medium
Scientific paper
We propose a Snapshot Survey of about 100 nuclei of Galactic planetary nebulae. The aim is to search for close, resolved binary companions of the central stars, which can be used to determine distances to the nebulae through photometric parallaxes. We estimate that about 10 percent of randomly selected central stars will have visual companions that will be detectable at HST resolution, and we show that our limited Cycle 3 experience agrees with this estimate. The images will be obtained with the WFPC2 PC chip and V {F555W} and I {F814W} filters, with exposure times of a few seconds up to about 15 min. We show that close companions as much as 7 mag fainter than the central stars are detectable with HST. The ultimate aim of the program is to provide a group of objects with accurate distances, which can then be used to calibrate other distance methods for planetary nebulae, thus greatly improving the presently unsatisfactory state of the Galactic planetary-nebula distance scale. This scale is crucial to our understanding of the evolution of nebulae and their central stars, the stellar population and birth rate of planetary nebulae, and their use as extragalactic distance indicators. This program was approved for Cycle 3, but is submitted again for Cycle 5 due to the small amount of data actually obtained in that shortened cycle.
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