Detection of HCO + emission toward the PN K 3-35

Abstract

Here we are reporting the detection of HCO + (J = 1 → 0) emission as well as weak emission of CO(J = 1 → 0) toward the planetary nebula (PN) K 3-35 as a result of a molecular emission survey carried out toward this source. K 3-35 is remarkable because it is one of the two PNe that are known to exhibit water maser emission. In this nebula, the emission is present in the central region as well as at a distance of ≃ 5000 AU away from the center. The presence of molecular emission reveals some clues that could lead to the understanding of the persistence of water molecules in its envelope. We also report new spectra of the CO (J = 2 → 1) transition. From the CO emission we have obtained a value for the excitation temperature of the molecular gas of ≃ 20 K. Using this result, we have estimated a molecular mass for the envelope of ≃0.01.7 M ⊙, and that the abundance for the HCO + is 6.1 ×10 -7. © 2006 International Astronomical Union.