Planck intermediate results. XVIII. The millimetre and sub-millimetre emission from planetary nebulae

Abstract

Late stages of stellar evolution are characterized by copious mass-loss events whose signature is the formation of circumstellar envelopes (CSE). Planck multi-frequency measurements have provided relevant information on a sample of Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) in the important and relatively unexplored observational band between 30 and 857 GHz. Planck enables the assembly of comprehensive PNe spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from radio to far-IR frequencies. Modelling the derived SEDs provides us with information on physical properties of CSEs and the mass content of both main components: ionized gas, traced by the free-free emission at cm–mm waves; and thermal dust, traced by the millimetre and far-IR emission. In particular, the amount of ionized gas and dust has been derived here. Such quantities have also been estimated for the very young PN CRL 618, where the strong variability observed in its radio and millimetre emission has previously prevented constructing its SED. A morphological study of the Helix Nebula was also performed. Planck maps reveal, for the first time, the spatial distribution of the dust inside the envelope, allowing us to identify different components, the most interesting of which is a very extended component (up to 1 pc) that may be related to a region where the slow expanding envelope is interacting with the surrounding interstellar medium.