XMM-Newton RGS observations of the cat's eye nebula

We present an analysis of XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) observations of the planetary nebula (PN) NGC6543. These observations render it the second PN with high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations after BD +30°3639. The observations consist of 26 pointings, 14 of which incl...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Guerrero, Martín A., Toalá, Jesús A., Chu, Y. -H., Gruendl, R. A.
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2015
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/388549
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/388549
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Planetary nebulae: general
Planetary nebulae: individual: NGC 6543
Stars: winds, outflows
X-rays: ISM
Description
Summary:We present an analysis of XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) observations of the planetary nebula (PN) NGC6543. These observations render it the second PN with high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations after BD +30°3639. The observations consist of 26 pointings, 14 of which included RGS observations for a total integration time of 435 ks.Many of these observations, however, were severely affected by high-background levels, and the net useful exposure time is drastically reduced to 25 ks. Only the O VII triplet at 22 A˚ is unambiguously detected in the RGS spectrum of NGC6543. We find this spectrum consistent with an optically thin plasma at 0.147 keV (1.7 MK) and nebular abundances. Unlike BD +30°3639, the X-ray emission from NGC6543 does not reveal overabundances of C and Ne. The results suggest that the N/O ratio of the hot plasma is consistent with that of the stellar wind, that is, it is lower than the nebular N/O ratio, but this result is not conclusive. © ESO 2015.