Searching for heavily obscured post-AGB stars and planetary nebulae: II. Near-IR observations of IRAS sources

The most massive AGB stars are expected to result in heavily obscured post-AGB stars, proto-PNe and PNe with highly axisymmetric morphologies. To investigate this evolutionary connection, we have selected a sample of 165 presumably obscured IRAS post-AGB star and PN candidates and obtained near-IR J...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ramos-Larios, G., Guerrero, Martín A., Suárez, O., Miranda, Luis F., Gómez, José F.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/422300
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/422300
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Stars: AGB and post-AGB
Stars: evolution
Planetary nebulae: general
Descripción
Sumario:The most massive AGB stars are expected to result in heavily obscured post-AGB stars, proto-PNe and PNe with highly axisymmetric morphologies. To investigate this evolutionary connection, we have selected a sample of 165 presumably obscured IRAS post-AGB star and PN candidates and obtained near-IR JHK images for 164 of them. These images, in conjunction with DSS, 2MASS, Spitzer GLIMPSE, MSX, AKARI, and IRAS archival data, have allowed us to identify the near-IR counterparts of 154 of these sources, providing reliable finding charts and coordinates. Near-IR narrow-band Brγ, H 2, and K continuum images were acquired for 6 of these sources that were found to be resolved in near-IR JHK images. Among the extended post-AGB source and PN candidates, three are round and seven have bipolar morphologies. Five of the extended sources are ionized and may have thus entered the PN stage. We note that all extended sources with water maser emission have bipolar morphology. We have investigated the Galactic distribution of sources with the largest flux drop from the 9 μm AKARI band to the near-IR J band and found that the width of the distribution in Galactic latitude is consistent with those of bipolar PNe and DUPLEX (DUst-Prominent Longitudinally EXtended) sources. © 2012 ESO.