Spectral study of the planetary nebula NGC 2452

Abstract

We provide a detailed study for the Galactic planetary nebula (PN) NGC 2452, which has long been suspected to be a member of the Galactic cluster NGC2453. The present study uses integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopic observations of the PN to explore its physical conditions, chemical abundances, kinematical characteristics, and morphological features. The strength of the singly ionized helium (HeII λ4686) line reveals that the PN is of high excitation class. The presence of the neutral lines of [OI] and [NI] a long with the value of the flux ratio F([Nii]λ6583)/F(Hα) indicates that the object is slightly optically thick. We compute the nebular density and temperature from a large number of diagnostic line ratios. The ionic and total abundances of helium (He) and carbon (C) are derived from their optical recombination lines (ORLs), while the abundances of nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), sulphur (S), and chlorine (Cl) are derived from their collisionlly-excitation lines (CELs). Faint lines like Krypton (Kr), Manganese (Mn), and Chromium (Cr), which are known to be products of the slow-process (s-process), are also seen in the PN spectrum. To illustrate the morphology and excitation structures of the PN, we generate a gallery of emission-line maps using the nebular data cubes. We find that the PN has an overall elliptical shape with a few interior clumps. In terms of physical and chemical properties, we find no significant differences between the entire PN and its accompanying clumps, considering the uncertainties associated with these parameters. Both the astronomical data from Gaia and the inferred radial velocity suggest that the PN belongs to the Galactic thin-disk.