Journal
PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA
Volume 28, Issue 1, Pages 83-94Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1071/AS10017
Keywords
stars: AGB and post-AGB; binaries: general; planetary nebulae: general; planetary nebulae: individual: K 1-6
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Funding
- Australian Research Council [LP0989264]
- Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN) [AYA2008-01934]
- Spanish Ministerio de Educacion [PR2009-0342]
- LCOGT
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We present new imaging data and archival multiwavelength observations of the little-studied emission nebula K 1-6 and its central star. Narrow-band images in H alpha (+[N II]) and [O III] taken with the Faulkes Telescope North reveal a stratified, asymmetric, elliptical nebula surrounding a central star which has the colours of a late G or early K-type subgiant or giant. GALEX ultraviolet images reveal a very hot subdwarf or white dwarf coincident in position with this star. The cooler, optically dominant star is strongly variable with a period of 21.312 +/- 0.008 days, and is possibly a high-amplitude member of the RS CVn class, although an FK Com classification is also possible. Archival ROSAT data provide good evidence that the cool star has an active corona. We conclude that K 1-6 is most likely an old bona fide planetary nebula at a distance of similar to 1.0 kpc, interacting with the interstellar medium, and containing a binary or ternary central star. The observations and data analyses reported in this paper were conducted in conjunction with Year 11 high school students as part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant science education project, denoted Space To Grow, conducted jointly by professional astronomers, educational researchers, teachers, and high-school students.
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