PN G291.4-00.3: A new type I planetary nebula^*

¹ Institut für Theoret. Physik und Astrophysik, Univ. Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
² Institut de Radio-Astronomie Millimétrique, 300 rue de la Piscine DU, 38406 St. Martin-d'Hères, France
³ Inst. Astronômico e Geofísico, Univ. de São Paulo, Av. Miguel Stéfano 4200, 04301 -904 São Paulo SP, Brazil
⁴ Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Université, 67000 Strasbourg, France
⁵ Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Kiel, Leibnizstraße 15, 24098 Kiel, Germany
⁶ International Space University, Parc d'Innovation, 67400 Illkirch, France
⁷ Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
⁸ European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
⁹ Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Univ. Heidelberg, Tiergartenstraße 15, 69121 Heidelberg, Germany

Corresponding author: D. Nürnberger, nurnberg@astro.uni-wuerzburg.de

Received: 4 August 2000
Accepted: 27 July 2001

Abstract

In the vicinity of the southern hemisphere giant H II region NGC 3603 we discovered a new planetary nebula: PN G291.4-00.3 located at RA_J2000.0 = 11h14m321 ± 03, DEC_J2000.0 = -61°00′02″ ± 1″. Monochromatic images reveal a central ring-like structure accompanied by onsets of arc-like filaments which might outline a bipolar outflow. Analysis of the nebula spectrum shows that helium and nitrogen are enriched, while oxygen, sulphur and argon abundances seem to be solar. The central star must be hot (above 100 kK) and having a luminosity of more than 3000 . All evidence shows that PN G291.4-00.3 is a high-excitation, density bounded planetary nebula of the type I, coming from the high-mass end of the intermediate mass stars.