The Web of Micro-Structures in IC 4593

Abstract

In addition to large-scale structures, planetary nebulae (PNe) show small-scale structures that emit mainly in low-ionization species such as [N ii], [S ii], [O ii], and [O i], known as LISs. Here, we present the analysis of optical long-slit spectra, for three slit positions, of the PN IC 4593, which possesses a pair of knots and an isolated low-ionization knot. The motivation for this work is the need to characterize LISs completely to evaluate their impact on the PNe studies. These data allow us to derive the physical properties and ionization state for each morphological component of the nebula, including its pair of knots and individual knot. Due to the large uncertainties in the [S ii] derived electron densities, we cannot confirm any contrast between the LISs’ electron densities and the surrounding nebula, found in numerous other LISs. Though the lack of spatially-resolved physical parameters in the literature prevents further comparisons, in general, our results derived for the entire nebula agree with previous studies.

Keywords

• ISM
• planetary nebulae
• individual
• IC 4593