Confirmation of new planetary nebulae in the large magellanic cloud

Abstract

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of new planetary nebulae (PNe) that were discovered in the Reid-Parker Anglo-Australian Observatory/UK Schmidt Telescope Hα survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud. These serendipitous observations from various HST programs yield independent confirmations of six PNe; one other detected nebula may also be a PN, and one appears to be a region of diffuse emission. The high-resolution HST archival images enable us to determine the physical sizes, nebular morphology, and related features of these new PNe in detail for the first time. In a few cases, we were also able to identify the central star, which was impossible with the lower resolution, wide-field discovery data. The confirmation of faint, extended halos surrounding many PNe in the Reid-Parker catalog must await the acquisition of new deep, high-resolution, narrowband imagery. © 2007. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific. All rights reserved.