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The distance scale of planetary nebulae

Bensby, Thomas LU orcid and Lundström, Ingemar LU (2001) In Astronomy & Astrophysics 374. p.599-614
Abstract
By collecting distances from the literature, a set of 73 planetarynebulae with mean distances of high accuracy is derived. This sample isused for recalibration of the mass-radius relationship, used by manystatistical distance methods. An attempt to correct for a statisticalpeculiarity, where errors in the distances influences the mass-radiusrelationship by increasing its slope, has been made for the first time.Distances to PNe in the Galactic Bulge, derived by this new method aswell as other statistical methods from the last decade, are then usedfor the evaluation of these methods as distance indicators. In order ofachieving a Bulge sample that is free from outliers we derive newcriteria for Bulge membership. These criteria are much more... (More)
By collecting distances from the literature, a set of 73 planetarynebulae with mean distances of high accuracy is derived. This sample isused for recalibration of the mass-radius relationship, used by manystatistical distance methods. An attempt to correct for a statisticalpeculiarity, where errors in the distances influences the mass-radiusrelationship by increasing its slope, has been made for the first time.Distances to PNe in the Galactic Bulge, derived by this new method aswell as other statistical methods from the last decade, are then usedfor the evaluation of these methods as distance indicators. In order ofachieving a Bulge sample that is free from outliers we derive newcriteria for Bulge membership. These criteria are much more stringentthan those used hitherto, in the sense that they also discriminateagainst background objects. By splitting our Bulge sample in two, onewith optically thick (small) PNe and one with optically thin (large)PNe, we find that our calibration is of higher accuracy than most othercalibrations. Differences between the two subsamples, we believe, aredue to the incompleteness of the Bulge sample, as well as the dominanceof optical diameters in the ``thin'' sample and radio diameters in the``thick'' sample. Our final conclusion is that statistical methods givedistances that are at least as accurate as the ones obtained from manyindividual methods. Also, the ``long'' distance scale of Galactic PNe isconfirmed. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
PLANETARY NEBULAE: GENERAL
in
Astronomy & Astrophysics
volume
374
pages
599 - 614
publisher
EDP Sciences
external identifiers
  • scopus:0035429147
ISSN
0004-6361
DOI
10.1051/0004-6361:20010705
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b7cf8d1a-f78a-4ed9-bf22-276501dff146 (old id 130161)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 15:19:20
date last changed
2022-12-12 03:39:12
@article{b7cf8d1a-f78a-4ed9-bf22-276501dff146,
  abstract     = {{By collecting distances from the literature, a set of 73 planetarynebulae with mean distances of high accuracy is derived. This sample isused for recalibration of the mass-radius relationship, used by manystatistical distance methods. An attempt to correct for a statisticalpeculiarity, where errors in the distances influences the mass-radiusrelationship by increasing its slope, has been made for the first time.Distances to PNe in the Galactic Bulge, derived by this new method aswell as other statistical methods from the last decade, are then usedfor the evaluation of these methods as distance indicators. In order ofachieving a Bulge sample that is free from outliers we derive newcriteria for Bulge membership. These criteria are much more stringentthan those used hitherto, in the sense that they also discriminateagainst background objects. By splitting our Bulge sample in two, onewith optically thick (small) PNe and one with optically thin (large)PNe, we find that our calibration is of higher accuracy than most othercalibrations. Differences between the two subsamples, we believe, aredue to the incompleteness of the Bulge sample, as well as the dominanceof optical diameters in the ``thin'' sample and radio diameters in the``thick'' sample. Our final conclusion is that statistical methods givedistances that are at least as accurate as the ones obtained from manyindividual methods. Also, the ``long'' distance scale of Galactic PNe isconfirmed.}},
  author       = {{Bensby, Thomas and Lundström, Ingemar}},
  issn         = {{0004-6361}},
  keywords     = {{PLANETARY NEBULAE: GENERAL}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{599--614}},
  publisher    = {{EDP Sciences}},
  series       = {{Astronomy & Astrophysics}},
  title        = {{The distance scale of planetary nebulae}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/4366686/624125.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1051/0004-6361:20010705}},
  volume       = {{374}},
  year         = {{2001}},
}