The kinematics of 867 galactic planetary nebulae

Abstract

We present a compilation of radial velocities of 867 galactic planetary nebulae. Almost 900 new measurements are included. Previously published kinematical data are compared with the new high-resolution data to assess their accuracies. One of the largest samples in the literature shows evidence for a systematic velocity offset. We calculate weighted averages between all available data. Of the final values in the catalogue, 90% have accuracies better than 20 kms-1. We use this compilation to derive kinematical parameters of the galactic differential rotation obtained from least-square fitting and to establish the Disk rotation curve; we find no significal trend for the presence of an increasing external rotation curve. We examine also the rotation of the bulge; the derived curve is consistent with a linearly increasing rotation velocity with l: we find Vb,r = (9.9±1.3)l-(6.7±8.5) km s-1. A possible steeper gradient in the innermost region is indicated.