MASHPNCAT - MASH Catalogs of MASH Planetary Nebulae

Overview

The first part of the Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg H-alpha Planetary Nebula Catalog (MASH) contains 903 new true, likely and possible Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) discovered in the AAO/UKST H-alpha survey of the southern Galactic Plane. The combination of depth, resolution, uniformity, and areal coverage of the H-alpha survey has opened up an hitherto unexplored region of parameter space permitting the detection of this significant new PN sample.

The second part, MASH-II, consists of over 300 true, likely and possible new Galactic PNe found after re-examination of the entire AAO/UKST H-alpha survey of the Southern Galactic Plane in digital form. Over 240 of these new candidates were confirmed as bona fide PNe on the basis of spectroscopic observations.

This HEASARC table contains all 1238 objects from the combined MASH and MASH-II catalogs.

Catalog Bibcodes

2006MNRAS.373...79P
2008MNRAS.384..525M

References

The Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg H{alpha}  Planetary Nebula Catalogue (MASH)
    Parker Q.A., Acker A., Frew D.J., Hartley M., Peyaud A.E.J., Phillipps S.,
    Russeil D., Beaulieu S.F., Cohen M., Koppen J., Marcout J., Miszalski B.,
    Morgan D.H., Morris R.A.H., Ochsenbein F., Pierce M.J.,
   <Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 373, 79-94 (2006)>
   =2006MNRAS.373...79P
MASH-II: more planetary nebulae from the AAO/UKST H{alpha} survey.
    Miszalski B., Parker Q.A., Acker A., Birkby J.L., Frew D.J., Kovacevic A.
   <Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 384, 525-534 (2008)>
   =2008MNRAS.384..525M

Provenance

This table was created by the HEASARC in April 2010 based on CDS Catalog V/127A files mash1.dat and mash2.dat.

Parameters

Source_Type
This flag parameter can be set to 'T', 'L', or 'P' to indicate the following:

'T' indicates a true confirmed PN discovery with indicative morphology, spectral features and sometimes an obvious central star (CSPN);

'L' indicates an object which is likely to be a PN but whose imagery or spectroscopy are not completely conclusive;

'P' indicates a possible PN: the morphology and spectroscopy are insufficiently conclusive, usually due to a combination of low S/N spectra, insufficient wavelength coverage, very low surface brightness or indistinct nebulosity. (The vast majority of contaminating H II regions, SNRs, HH objects, etc. were removed from this compilation by the authors). However, some of the MASH-II (catalog_part = 2) candidate objects awaiting confirmatory spectroscopy were classified as 'P' because the authors were relatively confident of their status as PNe.

Catalog_Part
This HEASARC-created parameter is set to 1 for sources from the original MASH Catalog or to 2 for sources from the MASH-II extension.

PN_Name
The standard IAU designation of the planetary nebula using the 'PN' prefix and its Galactic position, e.g., 'PN G349.9+03.2'.

Name
As well as the IAU PN designation, the authors assigned a unique catalogue identifier for each new discovery. The nomenclature follows from the first characters of the prime discoverers' surnames. The name prefix PHR (Parker, Hartley, Russeil) is used for the main 751 discoveries in the original MASH catalog, followed by PPA (Peyaud, Parker, Acker) for the 137 new bulge PNe discovered from difference imaging of the SuperCOSMOS H-alpha Survey (SHS) data and finally FP (Frew, Parker) for 14 new, large, evolved PNe mainly from the blocked-down FITS images. MASH-II PN found from the Image Analysis Mode (IAM) photometry were assigned the prefix MPA (denoting the authors Miszalski, Parker and Acker), while those from the quotient images were assigned BMP (denoting the authors Birkby, Miszalski and Parker) or MPA. There are some exceptions, however, namely some large MPA PNe, discovered by BM inspecting either full-resolution data or quotient images, and some small BMP PNe, visible as small groups of white pixels in the quotient images.

There then follows a concatenation of the J2000 equatorial coordinates of right ascension (RA) hours and minutes and the declination (Dec) degrees and minutes, e.g. 'PHR J1706-3528'. Note that the HEASARC has inserted ' J' into the names as given in the original catalog in order to make them conform to the usual IAU-recommended nomenclature for such position-based names). There are a few exceptions to the usual names for MASH-II PN: one is the extremely large (30 arcmin diameter) PN (PFP 1) (Pierce et al. 2004, PASA, 21, 334). There are also two PNe confirmed at SAAO by Retha Pretorius for a similar programme which have been given a PKP (Pretorius, Knigge, Parker) position-based designation.

RA
The Right Ascension of the PN in the selected equinox. This was given in J2000.0 coordinates to a precision of 0.1 seconds of time in the original tables. The precise J2000 RA/Dec coordinates determined for each new PN are generally good to ~1-2 arcsec depending on the visible extent of the PN. Where an obvious CSPN is visible in SHS data, the accurate stellar position, as given by the IAM data, is the value adopted. In most cases, due to the faintness and angular extent of the new PNe and the red bandpasses of the H-alpha and short red RG630 (SR) images, the CSPN are beyond the limit of detectability in the SHS data. In the absence of a positive CSPN identification, the geometric centroid of the nebula, as seen in H-alpha light, was determined. Most PNe are fairly compact so this measurement is quite straightforward.

The positional accuracy decreases for large, extended or asymmetric candidates where, in the absence of a clearly identified CSPN, a subjective assessment is made as to the geometric centre of the object. For some highly evolved PNe the CSPN can be offset from the geometric centre of the nebula by tens of arcseconds due to proper motion between the star and ejecta. The correct position to use for the object then becomes problematic.

Dec
The Declination of the PN in the selected equinox. This was given in J2000.0 coordinates to a precision of 1 arcsecond in the original tables. The precise J2000 RA/Dec coordinates determined for each new PN are generally good to ~1-2 arcsec depending on the visible extent of the PN. Where an obvious CSPN is visible in SHS data, the accurate stellar position, as given by the IAM data, is the value adopted. In most cases, due to the faintness and angular extent of the new PNe and the red bandpasses of the H-alpha and short red RG630 (SR) images, the CSPN are beyond the limit of detectability in the SHS data. In the absence of a positive CSPN identification, the geometric centroid of the nebula, as seen in H-alpha light, was determined. Most PNe are fairly compact so this measurement is quite straightforward.

LII
The Galactic Longitude of the PN.

BII
The Galactic Latitude of the PN.

Major_Diameter
The major diameter of the PN as directly measured from the SHS digital H-alpha image, in arcseconds. For a handful of highly asymmetric PNe only the major axis is defined. The measured values represent an estimate of the best visible size of the images as seen in H-alpha plus [N II] light to the nearest arcsecond, and including evident crowns or extended discs but not any extremely faint haloes (if visible these are mentioned in the accompanying notes). The accuracy of these measures depends on the morphological clarity of the PN, with outer boundaries being harder to determine for more diffuse candidates. An attempt was made to measure all dimensions at the same 98 per cent contrast level using facilities within the Starlink GAIA package which allow direct on-image dimension estimates. Clearly this process is somewhat subjective but careful attempts were made to undertake this task uniformly.

Minor_Diameter
The minor diameter of the PN as directly measured from the SHS digital H-alpha image, in arcseconds. For a handful of highly asymmetric PNe only the major axis is defined. The measured values represent an estimate of the best visible size of the images as seen in H-alpha plus [N II] light to the nearest arcsecond, and including evident crowns or extended discs but not any extremely faint haloes (if visible these are mentioned in the accompanying notes). The accuracy of these measures depends on the morphological clarity of the PN, with outer boundaries being harder to determine for more diffuse candidates. An attempt was made to measure all dimensions at the same 98 per cent contrast level using facilities within the Starlink GAIA package which allow direct on-image dimension estimates. Clearly this process is somewhat subjective but careful attempts were made to undertake this task uniformly.

Central_Star_Type
The type of central star in the PN (CSPN), when detected. This parameter is provided only for MASH-II PN (catalog_part = 2). Possible types are 'B' for blue stars, '[WR]' or specific spectral types such as '[WO1-2]' for Wolf-Rayet stars and 'wels' for weak emission-line stars (from Tylenda et al. 1993, A&AS, 102, 595). A supplementary '?' indicates a possible or uncertain classification. Blue central star candidates were identified from a B-R difference image constructed from SuperCOSMOS data and/or from spectra that show clear features of the central star such as a strong blue continuum or stellar lines.

Nebula_Morphology
The morphology of the PN. After review of the variety of then extant schemes previously developed, an adaptation of the current Corradi & Schwarz (1995, A&A, 293, 871) classification was employed, based in turn on that developed by Schwarz, Corradi & Stanghellini (1993, in Proc. IAU Symp. 155 on Planetary Nebulae, p. 214). The authors used a basic 'ERBIAS' classifier to indicate PNe which are Elliptical (oval), Round, Bipolar, Irregular, Asymmetric or quasi-Stellar (point sources). They made the added distinction between elliptical and purely round PNe on the basis of interest in these particular canonical Stromgren spheres, where an object is considered to be Round (circular) if the difference between estimated major and minor axis is < 5%. In uncertain cases a dual classification might be applied, such as E/B.

The authors then added a sub-classifier 'amprs' which indicates that the main object has a one sided enhancement/asymmetry 'a', or has multiple shells or external structure 'm', or exhibits point symmetry 'p', or has a well defined ring structure or annulus 'r', or has resolved internal structure 's'. A morphological classification should normally have only one basic 'ERBIAS' classifier but can have several 'amprs' sub--classifications as the image resolution and clarity allows which are ordered alphabetically.

Telescope
The telescope used for the follow-up spectroscopy. A variety of different 2-m class telescopes were used to perform the follow-up optical spectroscopy of the MASH PNe candidates during 30 observing missions between 1998 and 2005 (for MASH PNe) and during 10 observing missions between 2006 and 2007 (for MASH-II PNe). A few PNe were confirmed on larger telescopes during other programs. The telescopes are coded as follows:

      M1 = MSSSO 1.9m (Mount Stromlo, Australia)
      MS = MSSSO 2.3m (Mount Stromlo, Australia)
      SA = SAAO 1.9m  (South Africa)
      FL = FLAIR MOS system on UKST (Australia)
      6D = 6dF MOS system on UKST (Australia)
      E1 = ESO 1.5m (Chile)
      OH = OHP 1.9m
      AAT = Anglo-Australian Telescope
      VLT = ESO Very Large Telescope

Obs_Date
The date of the first spectroscopic observation which was made to confirm the MASH PN candidate.

Exposure_Number
The UKST H-alpha survey field exposure number in which the PN was originally found. Note that due to the considerable overlap between SHS survey fields, some PNe are visible on up to four different survey fields. Furthermore, some fields, especially those in the bulge, may have had dozens of new PNe identified in them.

Field_Number
The official survey field number in which the PN was originally found. Note that due to the considerable overlap between SHS survey fields, some PNe are visible on up to four different survey fields. Furthermore, some fields, especially those in the bulge, may have had dozens of new PNe identified in them.

Comments
Notes and comments on the PN. The comments accompanying each record are a heterogeneous set of remarks concerning each PN, including details of repeat spectroscopic observations, morphological oddities, basic line ratio comments and whether the PN also has a WR CSPN. If the PN was previously identified as another object or designated as only a possible PN in SIMBAD the previous ID and reference is also given.

Contact Person

Questions regarding the MASHPNCAT database table can be addressed to the HEASARC Help Desk.

Page Author: Browse Software Development Team
Last Modified: Monday, 16-Sep-2024 17:30:55 EDT