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Paper: A Thermal Radio Jet from the Central Post-AGB Star in the Bipolar Planetary Nebula M2-9
Volume: 199, Asymmetrical Planetary Nebulae II: From Origins to Microstructures
Page: 259
Authors: Lim, Jeremy; Kwok, Sun
Abstract: We have reanalyzed archival radio data obtained with the Very Large Array more than a decade ago for the bipolar planetary nebula M2-9. We confirm tentative evidence that the bright central radio core of M2-9 is elongated along the axis of the bipolar optical nebula. Its radio properties are consistent with a collimated (opening angle &thetas;o < 49 deg) ionized stellar wind, but which cannot be isothermal and uniformly expanding at a constant opening angle. The inferred mass-loss rate of the wind is no more than an order of magnitude higher than that estimated for central post-AGB stars in other planetary nebulae, and may actually be in agreement with those estimates if the opening angle of the wind is an order of magnitude smaller than the inferred upper limit. These results provide the first tentative but direct evidence for a collimated fast stellar wind from the central post-AGB star in a planetary nebula.
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