AAS Meeting #193 - Austin, Texas, January 1999
Session 15. Planetary Nebulae
Display, Wednesday, January 6, 1999, 9:20am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall 1

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[15.05] Sulfur And Argon Abundances In Type II Planetary Nebulae

J.B. Milingo, R.B.C. Henry (U Oklahoma), K.B. Kwitter (Williams College)

Abundances of S and Ar are presented for a sample of 48 Type II southern planetary nebulae (PN) based upon newly acquired spectrophotometry extending from 3600-9600 Å. Measurements of the strengths of [S III] 9069 Åand 9532 Åin each object has enabled us to improve upon earlier sulfur abundance estimates for these objects, since a significant portion of S in PN exists in the S+2 ionization stage, thus rendering extrapolation from observed ion abundances to total elemental abundance more certain. Type II PN reside close to the Galactic disk and are free of self-contamination, and thus their S and Ar abundances in particular are expected to reflect levels of these elements in the interstellar medium at the time of PN progenitor formation. Improved S and Ar abundances provide important information for studying massive star yields of these two elements as well as their distributions across the Milky Way disk.


The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: milingo@mail.nhn.ou.edu

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