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- Title
Distinguishing between HII regions and planetary nebulae with Hi-GAL, WISE, MIPSGAL, and GLIMPSE.
- Authors
Anderson, L. D.; Zavagno, A.; Barlow, M. J.; García-Lario, P.; Noriega-Crespo, A.
- Abstract
Context. H II regions and planetary nebulae (PNe) both emit at radio and infrared (IR) wavelengths, and angularly small H II regions can be mistaken for PNe. This problem of classification is most severe for H II regions in an early evolutionary stage, those that are extremely distant, or those that are both young and distant. Previous work has shown that H II regions and PNe can be separated based on their infrared colors. Aims. Using data from the Herschel Hi-GAL survey, as well as WISE and the Spitzer MIPSGAL and GLIMPSE surveys, we wish to establish characteristic IR colors that can be used to distinguish between H II regions and PNe. Methods. We perform aperture photometry measurements for a sample of 126 H II regions and 43 PNe at wavelengths from 8.0 μm to 500 μm. Results. We find that H II regions and PNe have distinct IR colors. The most robust discriminating color criteria are [F12/F8] < 0.3, [F160/F12] > 1.3, and [F160/F24] > 0.8 (or alternately [F160/F22] > 0.8), where the brackets indicate the log of the flux ratio. All three of these criteria are individually satisfied by over 98% of our sample of H II regions and by ∼10% of our sample of PNe. Combinations of these colors are more robust in separating the two populations; for example all H II regions and no PNe satisfy [F12/F8] < 0.4 and [F160/F22] > 0.8.When applied to objects of unknown classification, these criteria prove useful in separating the two populations. The dispersion in color is relatively small for H II regions; this suggests that any evolution in these colors with time for H II regions must be relatively modest. The spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of H II regions can be separated into "warm" and "cold" components. The "cold" component is well-fit by a grey-body of temperature 25 K. The SEDs of nearly two-thirds of our sample of H II regions peak at 160 μm and one third peak at 70 μm. For PNe, 67% of the SEDs peak at 70 μm, 23% peak at either 22 μm or 24μm, and 9% (two sources) peak at 160 μm.
- Subjects
PLANETARY nebulae; RADIO astronomy; INFRARED astronomy; STAR formation; STELLAR evolution
- Publication
Astronomy & Astrophysics / Astronomie et Astrophysique, 2012, Vol 537, p1
- ISSN
0004-6361
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1051/0004-6361/201117640