2004/04/15 by B. Otte, Birgit Otte, W. V. Dixon +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/421397
published as Astrophys.J. 606 (2004) L143-L146 · accepted for publication in ApJL, 11 pages including 2 figures
openalex publication_date 2004/04/15 · arxiv created 2004/04/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
A survey of diffuse interstellar sight lines observed with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer has led to the serendipitous discovery of a high-ionization nebula around the hot white dwarf KPD 0005+5106. The nebula has an O VI λ1032 surface brightness of up to 25,000 photons s -1 cm -2 sr -1 , making it the brightest region of extended O VI emission in our survey. Photoionization models using the incident white dwarf continuum successfully reproduce the observed O VI intensity. The O VI emission arises in the highly ionized inner region of a planetary nebula around KPD 0005+5106. This newly discovered nebula may be one member of a class of high-ionization planetary nebulae that are difficult to detect in the optical, but that can be easily identified in the ultraviolet.