11251(  1) - 03/30/07 11:08  - [  1]

                  HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVING PROGRAM 11251

Version: 1    Check-in Time: 30-Mar-2007 15:07:49       STScI Edit Number: 0

Title
Beyond the Textbook:  Temporal Systematics of Planetary Nebula Evolution
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Type             Cycle     Parallel Pointing Tolerance
AR               16        <none>
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Investigators
                                                                                     Contact?
    PI: Dr. Adam Frank                    University of Rochester
   CoI: Dr. Bruce Balick                  University of Washington                      N
   CoI: Dr. Orsola De Marco               American Museum of Natural History            N
   CoI: Prof. Eric Blackman               University of Rochester                       N

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Abstract

The study of PN shapes has been propelled forward by the high angular resolution of
HST into a state of flux. Currently the field is undergoing a profound reassessment
as mechanisms such as binary companions, accretion disks, MHD outflow launching and
jets become central to a fundamental understanding of these objects. Making progress
now requires more systematic studies of PN databases (such as HST) which show strong
evidence that nebular shapes change dramatically in time. In order to connect PN
shapes to evolutionary mechanisms we propose using high resolution Adaptive Mesh
Refinement MHD codes, built by the PI, to follow the evolution of three broad
classes of models and compare their predictions with the existing data, particularly
a new catalogue of HST PN images.
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