The Origin and Evolution of Planetary Nebulae

Sun Kwok is a leading world authority on the subject of astrochemistry and stellar evolution. He is best known for his theory on the origin of planetary nebulae and the death of Sun-like stars. His recent research has been on the topic of the synthesis of complex organic compounds in the late stages of stellar evolution. He is the author of many books, including Cosmic Butterflies (2001), Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium (2007) and Organic Matter in the Universe (2012). He has been a guest observer on many space missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the Infrared Space Observatory. He currently serves as President of Commission 34 Interstellar Matter of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), as well as Vice President of IAU Commission 51 Bioastronomy. He served as chairman of the IAU Planetary Nebulae Working Group between 1994 and 2001, and as organizing committee member of the IAU Astrochemistry Working Group.

Preface; 1. History and overview; 2. Ionization structure of planetary nebulae; 3. Nebular line radiation; 4. Nebular continuum radiation; 5. The neutral gas component; 6. The dust component; 7. Observations of the central star of planetary nebulae; 8. Morphologies of planetary nebulae; 9. Problems and questions; 10. Asymptotic giant branch stars - progenitors of planetary nebulae; 11. Evolution of the central stars; 12. Formation of planetary nebulae; 13. Dynamical evolution of planetary nebulae; 14. Proto-planetary nebulae - the transition objects; 15. Evolution to the white dwarf stage; 16. Distances to planetary nebulae; 17. Comparison between evolutionary models and observations; 18. PN in the galactic context; 19. Chemical abundances; 20. Planetary nebulae in other galaxies; 21. Concluding remarks; References; Appendix: list of symbols and abbreviations; Subject index.