Previous
abstract 
Next
abstract
Session 114 - Circumstellar Material & Nebulae.
Oral session, Saturday, January 10
Georgetown,
Observations over the past four decades have revealed significant changes in the spectrum of the Stingray Nebula (He 3-1357). Here we present HST images and spectra showing the most recent developments. In 1950, Henize saw only H\alpha in emission; but more recent observations by Parthasarathy et al.\ in 1992 showed strong forbidden lines consistent with a young planetary nebula. The spherically aberrated 1992 HST images, in which Bobrowsky first optically resolved the nebula, showed a compact nebula surrounding the central star. Nebular gas appeared most strongly concentrated in an ellipse with its major axis subtending 1.^\prime\prime6 from NE to SW. If this ellipse is actually a circular ring viewed obliquely, then our line of sight is inclined from the symmetry axis by 56\deg. Above and below the ring of gas are two bubbles containing lower-density gas. At the tip of each bubble, there is a hole where the gas inside the bubbles has broken through and is now escaping. While images of focused jets have been obtained previously (Borkowski et al.), this is the first case where the nebular structure responsible for the focusing of an outflow can be clearly seen. The windblown appearance of the nebula is consistent with the blueshifted Si IV (1394-1403Åand Al III (1855-1863Ådoublets observed by Parthasarathy et al. that indicated the presence of a strong stellar wind. The N V (1239-1243Åto C IV (1548-1551Åratio has increased in recent years, consistent with a young nebula becoming increasingly ionized. Our new spectra reveal additional developments that show the real-time development of this young nebula. Finally, the new HST Planetary Camera images of the nebula show detailed structure indicating a much more complex object than previously known, including the presence of a companion star 0.^\prime\prime from the central star.
