Letter to the Editor

Proper motion of the central star of the Planetary Nebula Sh 2–68

¹ Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748, Garching, Germany
² Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA e-mail: fabrizia@stsci.edu
³ European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748, Garching, Germany e-mail: rmignani@eso.org
⁴ Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Casilla 601, La Serena, Chile e-mail: miguel@lco.cl

Corresponding author: F. Kerber, florian.kerber@stecf.org

Received: 24 September 2001
Accepted: 6 November 2001

Abstract

We report on the discovery of the proper motion of the central star (CS) of the Planetary Nebula (PN) Sh 2–68 (PN G030.6+06.2). Sh 2–68 is a PN interacting with the interstellar medium (ISM), which impedes and finally stops the expansion of the nebula itself while the galactic motion of the CS leads to it moving out of the geometric center of the PN. Our observation is a direct confirmation of this process and combined with imaging data suggests that the ISM's magnetic field plays an important role in shaping and destroying evolved PNe. The proper motion of 53.2 ± 5.5 mas yr^-1 is the largest value for a PN found from ground based observations.