We report results from a program of high-resolution spectral mapping of rotational H2 emission from bipolar planetary and pre-planetary nebulae. Long-slit spectra obtained with the NOAO Phoenix near-infrared spectrometer allow us to probe the molecular kinematics of these nebulae at moderate spatial resolution. We find strong evidence of a component of rotation in the equatorial H2 emission fro...

The planetary nebula M94–20 in the Large Magellanic Cloud was serendipitously observed with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope as part of the Hubble Space Telescope Archival Pure Parallel Program. We present spatially resolved imaging and spectral data of the nebula and compare them with ground based data, including detection of several emission lines f...

We report results of a spectrophotometric study of SBS 1150+599A and discuss the nature of this object based upon our data. Our study shows that SBS 1150+599A is most probably a planetary nebula located in the Galactic halo and not a cataclysmic variable as originally proposed by the authors of the Second Byurakan Survey from low resolution spectroscopy. We have further elaborated on the proper...

I propose that some of the most luminous planetary nebulae (PNs) are actually proto-PNs, where a companion white dwarf (WD) accretes mass at a relatively high rate from the post-asymptotic giant branch star that blew the nebula. The WD sustains a continuous nuclear burning and ionizes the nebula. The WD is luminous enough to make the dense nebula luminous in the [O III] λ5007 Å line, In young s...

The planetary nebula M94–20 in the Large Magellanic Cloud was serendipitously observed with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope as part of the Hubble Space Telescope Archival Pure Parallel Program. We present spatially resolved imaging and spectral data of the nebula and compare them with ground based data, including detection of several emission lines f...

We report the initial results of a survey for intracluster planetary nebulae in the Virgo Cluster. In two 16 × 16 fields, we identify 69 and 16 intracluster planetary nebula candidates, respectively. In a third 16 × 16 field near the central elliptical galaxy M87, we detect 75 planetary nebula candidates, of which a substantial fraction are intracluster in nature. By examining the number of the...