Planetary Nebulae and Their Central Stars in the Magellanic Clouds

Abstract

During the last decade the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has allowed us to extend late stellar evolution studies to nearby galaxies where the effect of the environment can be quantified. Using HST we have observed over a hundred Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in the Magellanic Clouds, where its known distance has allowed us to determine accurate masses for their central stars. We find an average central star mass of 〈M_CS,LMC〉=0.65±0.07 M_⊙ in the Large Magellanic Cloud, higher than the one reported in the literature for both white dwarfs and the central stars of PNe in the Galaxy. Higher central star masses are expected in a lower metallicity environment as a consequence of the reduced mass-loss rates during the Asymptotic Giant Branch. We present the first observational evidence from PNe progenitors of this effect.