FILAMENTS AS SIGNATURES OF MAGNETIC FIELDS IN PNe

NGC 3132

Above: Overview of the planetary nebula NGC 3132. To the right are detailed images of the vertical bar structure seen in the overview. The images are in pairs: at the top the images are in the O III line, where the filaments are seen in aborption against the background; at the bottom the images are in the N II line, and the filaments are seen in absorption and emission. The image at the left of each pair is direct intensity, and at the right is an unsharp mask version, which flattens the background and enhances the small scale structure. Image dimensions are gievn in the paper.

IC 418

Above: Overview of IC 418 in the H alpha line. This is an unsharp mask image that flattens the background and enhances small scale structure. To the right are close up images of the same field located down and to the left of the center of the overview. The upper one is in H alpha, and the lower one in N II. The filaments can be traced in both species.

NGC 6537

To the right are images of the core region of NGC 6537. The image at the top is in H alpha, and at the bottom, in N II. The filaments in this case are less well resolved, but are seen to circle the star. These images are based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute. StScI is operated by the Association for Universities for Reaearch in Astronomy, Inc, under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.