The extinction distances for over a thousand planetary nebulae with Gaia measurements
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866914397703634944 |
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| author | Deng, Juan Wang, Shu Jiang, Biwei Deng, Licai |
| author_facet | Deng, Juan Wang, Shu Jiang, Biwei Deng, Licai |
| contents | Although Gaia has identified the central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNe) for about 70% of known Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe), reliable distance estimates remain incomplete, with fewer than one quarter having accurate parallaxes. Meanwhile, classical extinction-distance samples include only about 70 objects, corresponding to 1.8% of the Galactic PN population. We aim to construct a large and homogeneous catalogue of PN distances by refining extinction-distance measurements with Gaia DR3, providing an independent complement to CSPN parallax-based distances. We develop a Gaia-based extinction-distance method by combining an improved blue-edge approach with an extinction-jump model. PN distances are derived from stellar extinction jumps in line-of-sight extinction-distance profiles and are further constrained by comparisons with published distances, the spatial distribution of stars relative to the PN centre, and the PN radius-distance relation. We obtain distances for 1,066 PNe with a median relative uncertainty of 13%, with about 87% of the sample having uncertainties below 20%. The catalogue includes 765 PNe whose CSPN parallaxes have uncertainties greater than 20% and 128 PNe without CSPN parallaxes. This method complements CSPN parallax-based approaches and extends the traditional extinction-based method to higher Galactic latitudes. For PNe with discrepant literature distances, it helps identify the more reliable estimates and assess CSPN identifications. We find a likely misidentification of the reported CSPN for Fr2-36 and analyse 33 PNe with two CSPN candidates, suggesting improved identifications for 15 objects. This catalogue represents the largest homogeneous set of extinction-based PN distances to date and provides a robust benchmark for studies of Galactic structure, PN populations, and interstellar extinction. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_15139 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The extinction distances for over a thousand planetary nebulae with Gaia measurements Deng, Juan Wang, Shu Jiang, Biwei Deng, Licai Astrophysics of Galaxies Although Gaia has identified the central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNe) for about 70% of known Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe), reliable distance estimates remain incomplete, with fewer than one quarter having accurate parallaxes. Meanwhile, classical extinction-distance samples include only about 70 objects, corresponding to 1.8% of the Galactic PN population. We aim to construct a large and homogeneous catalogue of PN distances by refining extinction-distance measurements with Gaia DR3, providing an independent complement to CSPN parallax-based distances. We develop a Gaia-based extinction-distance method by combining an improved blue-edge approach with an extinction-jump model. PN distances are derived from stellar extinction jumps in line-of-sight extinction-distance profiles and are further constrained by comparisons with published distances, the spatial distribution of stars relative to the PN centre, and the PN radius-distance relation. We obtain distances for 1,066 PNe with a median relative uncertainty of 13%, with about 87% of the sample having uncertainties below 20%. The catalogue includes 765 PNe whose CSPN parallaxes have uncertainties greater than 20% and 128 PNe without CSPN parallaxes. This method complements CSPN parallax-based approaches and extends the traditional extinction-based method to higher Galactic latitudes. For PNe with discrepant literature distances, it helps identify the more reliable estimates and assess CSPN identifications. We find a likely misidentification of the reported CSPN for Fr2-36 and analyse 33 PNe with two CSPN candidates, suggesting improved identifications for 15 objects. This catalogue represents the largest homogeneous set of extinction-based PN distances to date and provides a robust benchmark for studies of Galactic structure, PN populations, and interstellar extinction. |
| title | The extinction distances for over a thousand planetary nebulae with Gaia measurements |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15139 |