Challenges faced by current Galactic planetary nebula surveys

Abstract

Determining the demographics of the Galactic planetary nebula (PN) population is an important goal to further our understanding of this intriguing phase of stellar evolution. The Galactic population has more than doubled in number over the last 15 years, particularly from narrowband \ha\ surveys along the plane. In this review I will summarise these results, with emphasis on the time interval since the last IAU Symposium. These primarily optical surveys are not without their limitations and new surveys for PNe in the infrared similarly face a number of challenges. I will discuss the need for multi-wavelength approaches to discovery and analysis. The desire to have accurate volume-limited samples of Galactic PNe at our disposal is emphasised, which will be impacted with new data from the Gaia satellite mission. We need robust surveys of PNe and their central stars, especially volume-limited surveys, in order to clarify and quantify their evolutionary pathways.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, Invited Review given at IAU Symposium 323, held in Beijing, China, October 201

Planetary Nebulae: Sources of Enlightenment

“…Variations on the Shklovsky method have included substituting Hα (Abell 1966) or 5 GHz radio fluxes (Daub 1982) for Hβ, as well as eliminating the assumption of a fixed ionized mass, and allowing for consideration of both optically thin and optically thick PNe (e.g., CKS; Stanghellini et al 2008). Frew (2008) first presented a statistical scale based on the SB in Hα and the nebular radius. The astronomical observables required are the angular size of the nebula and the extinction-corrected total Hα flux.…”

“…Books and monographs concentrating on PNe include Aller & Liller (1968), Aller (1971), Pottasch (1983), Aller (1987), Gurzadyan (1997), Kwok (2000), and Osterbrock & Ferland (2006). Frew (2008) provides an excellent, detailed study of PNe in the solar neighborhood.…”