Modelling the 3D morphology and proper motions of the planetary nebula NGC 6302

TL;DR

This study uses 3D hydrodynamical simulations to model the complex morphology and kinematics of planetary nebula NGC 6302, comparing results with HST observations and proper motion data.

Contribution

The paper introduces a detailed 3D hydrodynamical model that successfully reproduces the nebula's morphology and provides insights into its expansion dynamics.

Findings

The interacting stellar wind model matches the observed morphology.

Simulated proper motions align with observations, indicating model accuracy.

An additional acceleration mechanism may be required to explain observed expansion.

Abstract

We present 3D hydrodynamical simulations of an isotropic fast wind interacting with a previously ejected toroidally-shaped slow wind in order to model both the observed morphology and the kinematics of the planetary nebula (PN) NGC 6302. This source, also known as the Butterfly nebula, presents one of the most complex morphologies ever observed in PNe. From our numerical simulations, we have obtained an intensity map for the H$\alpha$ emission to make a comparison with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of this object. We have also carried out a proper motion (PM) study from our numerical results, in order to compare with previous observational studies. We have found that the two interacting stellar wind model reproduces well the morphology of NGC 6302, and while the PM in the models are similar to the observations, our results suggest that an acceleration mechanism is needed to explain the Hubble-type expansion found in HST observations.