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arXiv · 2301.02775

The messy death of a multiple star system and the resulting planetary nebula as observed by JWST

Orsola De Marco·Muhammad Akashi·Stavros Akras·Javier Alcolea·Isabel Aleman·Philippe Amram·Bruce Balick·Elvire De Beck·Eric G. Blackman·Henri M. J. Boffin·Panos Boumis·Jesse Bublitz·Beatrice Bucciarelli·Valentin Bujarrabal·Jan Cami·Nicholas Chornay·You-Hua Chu·Romano L. M. Corradi·Adam Frank·Guillermo Garcia-Segura·D. A. Garcia-Hernandez·Jorge Garcia-Rojas·Veronica Gomez-Llanos·Denise R. Goncalves·Martin A. Guerrero·David Jones·Amanda I. Karakas·Joel H. Kastner·Sun Kwok·Foteini Lykou·Arturo Manchado·Mikako Matsuura·Iain McDonald·Ana Monreal-Ibero·Hektor Monteiro·Paula Moraga Baez·Christophe Morisset·Brent Miszalski·Shazrene S. Mohamed·Rodolfo Montez Jr.·Jason Nordhaus·Claudia Mendes de Oliveira·Zara Osborn·Masaaki Otsuka·Quentin A. Parker·Els Peeters·Bruno C. Quint·Guillermo Quintana-Lacaci·Matt Redman·Ashley J. Ruiter·Laurence Sabin·Carmen Sanchez Contreras·Miguel Santander-Garcia·Ivo Seitenzahl·Raghvendra Sahai·Noam Soker·Angela K. Speck·Letizia Stanghellini·Wolfgang Steffen·Jesus A. Toala·Toshiya Ueta·Griet Van de Steene·Eva Villaver·Paolo Ventura·Wouter Vlemmings·Jeremy R. Walsh·Roger Wesson·Hans van Winckel·Albert A. Zijlstra
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Abstract

Planetary nebulae (PNe), the ejected envelopes of red giant stars, provide us with a history of the last, mass-losing phases of 90 percent of stars initially more massive than the Sun. Here, we analyse James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Early Release Observation (ERO) images of the PN NGC3132. A structured, extended H2 halo surrounding an ionised central bubble is imprinted with spiral structures, likely shaped by a low-mass companion orbiting the central star at 40-60 AU. The images also reveal a mid-IR excess at the central star interpreted as a dusty disk, indicative of an interaction with another, closer companion. Including the previously known, A-type visual companion, the progenitor of the NGC3132 PN must have been at least a stellar quartet. The JWST images allow us to generate a model of the illumination, ionisation and hydrodynamics of the molecular halo, demonstrating the power of JWST to investigate complex stellar outflows. Further, new measurements of the A-type visual companion allow us to derive the value for the mass of the progenitor of a central star to date with excellent precision: 2.86+/-0.06 Mo. These results serve as path finders for future JWST observations of PNe providing unique insight into fundamental astrophysical processes including colliding winds, and binary star interactions, with implications for supernovae and gravitational wave systems.

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Orsola De Marco, Muhammad Akashi, Stavros Akras, Javier Alcolea, Isabel Aleman, Philippe Amram, Bruce Balick, Elvire De Beck, Eric G. Blackman, Henri M. J. Boffin, Panos Boumis, Jesse Bublitz, Beatrice Bucciarelli, Valentin Bujarrabal, Jan Cami, Nicholas Chornay, You-Hua Chu, Romano L. M. Corradi, Adam Frank, Guillermo Garcia-Segura, D. A. Garcia-Hernandez, Jorge Garcia-Rojas, Veronica Gomez-Llanos, Denise R. Goncalves, Martin A. Guerrero, David Jones, Amanda I. Karakas, Joel H. Kastner, Sun Kwok, Foteini Lykou, Arturo Manchado, Mikako Matsuura, Iain McDonald, Ana Monreal-Ibero, Hektor Monteiro, Paula Moraga Baez, Christophe Morisset, Brent Miszalski, Shazrene S. Mohamed, Rodolfo Montez Jr., Jason Nordhaus, Claudia Mendes de Oliveira, Zara Osborn, Masaaki Otsuka, Quentin A. Parker, Els Peeters, Bruno C. Quint, Guillermo Quintana-Lacaci, Matt Redman, Ashley J. Ruiter, Laurence Sabin, Carmen Sanchez Contreras, Miguel Santander-Garcia, Ivo Seitenzahl, Raghvendra Sahai, Noam Soker, Angela K. Speck, Letizia Stanghellini, Wolfgang Steffen, Jesus A. Toala, Toshiya Ueta, Griet Van de Steene, Eva Villaver, Paolo Ventura, Wouter Vlemmings, Jeremy R. Walsh, Roger Wesson, Hans van Winckel, Albert A. Zijlstra. 2023-01-07. The messy death of a multiple star system and the resulting planetary nebula as observed by JWST. https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.02775

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