Planetary Nebulae in the VISTA Magellanic Cloud (VMC) Survey

TL;DR

The VMC survey's deep near-infrared observations aim to refine the catalog of planetary nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds, crucial for astrophysical studies and understanding stellar evolution.

Contribution

This study provides initial insights into the contamination of existing planetary nebulae catalogs and highlights the importance of a clean, reliable catalog for future research.

Findings

Many previously classified PNe are contaminated by non-PNe.

Initial VMC data covers 9% of the LMC survey region.

The survey will help refine and expand the catalog of PNe.

Abstract

The multi-epoch YJKs sub-arcsecond photometry of the VMC survey provides a long anticipated deep near-infrared (NIR) window into further understanding the stellar populations of the Magellanic Clouds. The first year of observations consisted of six tiles covering ~9% of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) survey region and contains 102 objects previously classified as planetary nebulae (PNe). A large proportion of the sample were found to be contaminated by non-PNe. These initial results underline the importance of establishing a clean catalogue of LMC PNe before they are applied in areas such as the planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) and searches for binary central stars. As the VMC survey progresses it will play a fundamental role in cleaning extant PN catalogues and a complementary role in the discovery of new PNe.