NGC 2440 : A morpho-kinematical model

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed 3D morpho-kinematical model of the planetary nebula NGC 2440, using high-resolution spectra, P-V diagrams, and HST images to reveal its segmented torus core and bipolar lobes.

Contribution

It introduces the first 3D model of NGC 2440, confirming a segmented torus core and deriving its orientation, distance, and interaction with the surrounding medium.

Findings

The core is a segmented torus torn apart by environmental interaction.

The nebula's bipolar lobes have specific orientation angles.

Distance to NGC 2440 is estimated at 1.8 ± 0.5 kpc.

Abstract

This work describes the modelling of the 3D structure and position-velocity (P-V) diagrams of NGC 2440, a well known planetary nebula, aiming to describe the morphology of this object, specially its core. We have used high resolution spectra and P-V diagrams to reproduce the 3D structure of the nebula using SHAPE, a software that allows 3D modelling. HST high angular resolution images were used as reference to the model. The observational data point to a segmented core, and the simulations confirm this assumption; the best model for the nebula is a torus segmented in three pieces. The simulated P-V diagrams agree with the observations. We suggest that the torus was torn apart by interaction with the surrounding medium, either as winds or the radiation field. For the two bipolar lobes, orientation angles to the plane of the sky of $27\pm$5 and $-5\pm3$ degrees, respectively for the bipolar components with PA of 85 and 35 degrees, were derived. No additional bipolar lobes were required to model the observed features of NGC 2440. A distance of $1.8 \pm 0.5$ kpc was derived for the nebula using our velocity field for the toroidal structure. These results are the first derived for NGC 2440 from modelling in a 3D environment.