The physical structure of planetary nebulae around sdO stars: Abell 36, DeHt 2, and RWT 152

Abstract

We present narrow-band Ha and [O III] images, and high-resolution, long-slit spectra of the planetary nebulae (PNe) Abell 36, DeHt 2, and RWT 152 aimed at studying their morphology and internal kinematics. These data are complemented with intermediate-resolution, long-slit spectra to describe the spectral properties of the central stars and nebulae. The morphokinematical analysis shows that Abell 36 consists of an inner spheroid and two bright point-symmetric arcs; DeHt 2 is elliptical with protruding polar regions and a bright non-equatorial ring; and RWT 152 is bipolar. The formation of Abell 36 and DeHt 2 requires several ejection events including collimated bipolar outflows that probably are younger than and have disrupted the main shell. The nebular spectra of the three PNe show a high excitation and also suggest a possible deficiency in heavy elements in DeHt 2 and RWT 152. The spectra of the central stars strongly suggest an sdO nature and their association with PNe points out that they have most probably evolved through the asymptotic giant branch. We analyse general properties of the few known sdOs associated with PNe and find that most of them are relatively or very evolved PNe, show complex morphologies, host binary central stars, and are located at relatively high Galactic latitudes.