First release of the IPHAS Catalogue of New Extended Planetary Nebulae

TL;DR

This paper reports the first release of a catalogue of 159 newly identified extended planetary nebulae from the IPHAS survey, enhancing the understanding of Galactic planetary nebulae populations and their evolutionary states.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new catalogue of 159 extended planetary nebulae identified through systematic visual analysis of IPHAS data, expanding the known Galactic PN population.

Findings

Identification of 159 new planetary nebulae.

Enhanced detection of PNe in high-extinction and distant regions.

Improved census of Galactic planetary nebulae.

Abstract

We present the first results of our search for new, extended Planetary Nebulae (PNe) based on careful, systematic, visual scrutiny of the imaging data from the INT Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS). The newly uncovered PNe will help to improve the census of this important population of Galactic objects that serve as key windows into the late stage evolution of low to intermediate mass stars. They will also facilitate study of the faint end of the ensemble Galactic PN luminosity function. The sensitivity and coverage of IPHAS allows PNe to be found in regions of greater extinction in the Galactic Plane and/or those PNe in a more advanced evolutionary state and at larger distances compared to the general Galactic PN population. Using a set of newly revised optical diagnostic diagrams in combination with access to a powerful, new, multi-wavelength imaging database, we have identified 159 true, likely and possible PNe for this first catalogue release. The ability of IPHAS to unveil PNe at low Galactic latitudes and towards the Galactic Anticenter, compared to previous surveys, makes this survey an ideal tool to contribute to the improvement of our knowledge of the whole Galactic PN population