An Optical-Infrared Study of the Young Multipolar Planetary Nebula NGC 6644

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution optical and infrared imaging to reveal the complex multipolar structure of planetary nebula NGC 6644, suggesting such structures are more common than previously thought.

Contribution

It provides a detailed 3-D model of NGC 6644, demonstrating its multipolar nature and the orientation of dust and lobes, which advances understanding of nebula morphologies.

Findings

NGC 6644 has two pairs of bipolar lobes and a central ring.

A dust torus is nearly perpendicular to one pair of lobes.

NGC 6644 is a multipolar nebula with complex intrinsic structure.

Abstract

High-resolution HST imaging of the compact planetary nebula NGC 6644 has revealed two pairs of bipolar lobes and a central ring lying close to the plane of the sky. From mid-infrared imaging obtained with the Gemini Telescope, we have found a dust torus which is oriented nearly perpendicular to one pair of the lobes. We suggest that NGC 6644 is a multipolar nebula and have constructed a 3-D model which allows the visualization of the object from different lines of sight. These results suggest that NGC 6644 may have similar intrinsic structures as other multipolar nebulae and the phenomenon of multipolar nebulosity may be more common than previously believed.