J/A+A/700/A125 MUSE NGC 253 planetary nebulae (Congiu+, 2025)
The MUSE view of the Sculptor galaxy:
Survey overview and the luminosity function of planetary nebulae.
Congiu E., Scheuermann F., Kreckel K., Leroy A., Emsellem E., Belfiore F.,
Hartke J., Anand G., Egorov O.V., Groves B., Kravtsov T., Thilker D.,
Tovo C., Bigiel F., Blanc G.A., Bolatto A.D., Cronin S.A., Dale D.A.,
McClain R., Mendez-Delgado J.E., Oakes E.K., Klessen R.S., Schinnerer E.,
Williams T.G.
<Astron. Astrophys. 700, A125 (2025)>
=2025A&A...700A.125C 2025A&A...700A.125C (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Galaxies, optical; Galaxies, nearby; Planetary nebulae; Magnitudes
Keywords: dust, extinction - planetary nebulae: general -
galaxies: distances and redshifts - galaxies: individual: NGC 253
Abstract:
NGC 253, the Sculptor galaxy, is the southern, massive, star-forming
disk galaxy closest to the Milky Way. In this work, we present a new
103-pointing MUSE mosaic of this galaxy covering the majority of its
star-forming disk up to 0.75xR25. With an area of ∼20x5 arcmin2
(∼20x5 kpc2, projected) and a physical resolution of ∼15pc, this
mosaic constitutes one of the largest, highest physical resolution
integral field spectroscopy surveys of any star-forming galaxy to
date. Here, we exploit the mosaic to identify a sample of ∼500
planetary nebulae (∼20 times larger than in previous studies) to
build the planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) and obtain a new
estimate of the distance to NGC 253. The value obtained is 17% higher
than estimates returned by other reliable measurements, mainly
obtained via the top of the red giant branch method (TRGB). The PNLF
also varies between the centre (r<4 kpc) and the disk of the galaxy.
The distance derived from the PNLF of the outer disk is comparable to
that of the full sample, while the PNLF of the centre returns a
distance ∼0.9Mpc larger. Our analysis suggests that extinction
related to the dust-rich interstellar medium and edge-on view of the
galaxy (the average E(B-V) across the disk is ∼0.35mag) plays a
major role in explaining both the larger distance recovered from the
full PNLF and the difference between the PNLFs in the centre and in
the disk.
Description:
Most of the data presented in this work were acquired as part of
European Southern Observatory (ESO) programme 108.2289 (P.I. Congiu).
We used MUSE in its seeing-limited wide-field mode configuration and
with the extended wavelength range (WFM-NOAO-E), which covers between
4600 and 9300Å with a resolution R∼2000 at Hα.
The mosaic also includes two archival pointings that were observed as
part of the ESO programme 0102.B-0078 (P.I. Zschaechner).
We detect our PN candidates using a visual approach based on the
[OIII]λ 5007, Hα, and [SII]λλ 6717,6731
moment maps.
Position, line fluxes and [OIII]5007 magnitudes for a sample of PNe in
NGC253.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
catalog.dat 335 571 Position, line fluxes and [OIII] 5007 magnitudes
for a sample of PNe in NGC 253
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See also:
J/A+A/550/A12 : NGC253 near-infrared H2 emission (Rosenberg+, 2013)
J/A+A/562/A73 : ZJ VISTA photometry in NGC253 stellar halo (Greggio+, 2014)
J/A+A/611/A21 : Globular cluster candidates in NGC253 (Cantiello+, 2018)
J/ApJ/736/24 : VI photometry of sources in NGC253 halo (Bailin+, 2011)
J/MNRAS/388/849 : NGC253 XMM observations (Barnard+, 2008)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: catalog.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 3 I3 --- ID [1/571] Unique ID of the nebula
5- 22 F18.15 deg RAdeg Right ascension (J2000)
24- 42 F19.15 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
44- 50 F7.3 --- deprojDist Deprojected distance within galaxy disc
(deproj_dist)
52- 59 F8.3 deg deprojphi Deprojected position angle within galaxy
disc (deproj_phi)
61- 65 F5.3 arcsec FWHM Region FWHM from Moffat fit (FWHM)
66 A1 --- l_F[HeII] Upper limit flag on F[HeII]
67- 75 F9.3 10-17W/m2 F[HeII] ?=- [HeII] 4685 attenuation and aperture
corrected flux (HEII4685_FLUX)
77- 84 F8.3 10-17W/m2 e_F[HeII] ?=- Line [HeII] 4685 flux error
(HEII4685FLUXERR)
86- 94 F9.3 10-17W/m2 F[HeII]bck Line [HeII] 4685 background flux
(HEII4685FLUXBACK)
96-101 F6.3 --- [HeII]SNR ?=- Line [HeII] 4685 signal-to-noise
ratio (HEII4685_SNR)
102 A1 --- l_FHb Upper limit flag on FHb
103-111 F9.3 10-17W/m2 FHb ?=- Hβ 4861 attenuation and
aperture corrected flux (HB4861_FLUX)
113-120 F8.3 10-17W/m2 e_FHb ?=- Hβ 4861 flux error
(HB4861FLUXERR)
122-130 F9.3 10-17W/m2 FHbbck Hβ 4861 background flux
(HB4861FLUXBACK)
132-137 F6.3 --- HbSNR ?=- Hβ 4861 signal-to-noise ratio
(HB4861_SNR)
139-148 F10.3 10-17W/m2 F[OIII] Line [OIII] 5007 attenuation and
aperture corrected flux (OIII5006_FLUX)
150-156 F7.3 10-17W/m2 e_F[OIII] Line [OIII] 5007 flux error
(OIII5006FLUXERR)
158-166 F9.3 10-17W/m2 F[OIII]bck Line [OIII] 5007 background flux
(OIII5006FLUXBACK)
168-174 F7.3 --- [OIII]SNR Line [OIII] 5007 signal-to-noise ratio
(OIII5006_SNR)
175 A1 --- l_F[HeI] Upper limit flag on F[HeI]
176-184 F9.3 10-17W/m2 F[HeI] ?=- Line [HeI] 5875 attenuation and
aperture corrected flux (HEI5875_FLUX)
186-193 F8.3 10-17W/m2 e_F[HeI] ?=- Line [HeI] 5875 flux error
(HEI5875FLUXERR)
195-203 F9.3 10-17W/m2 F[HeI]bck ?=- Line [HeI] 5875 background flux
(HEI5875FLUXBACK)
205-210 F6.3 --- [HeI]SNR ?=- Line [HeI] 5875 signal-to-noise
ratio (HEI5875_SNR)
211 A1 --- l_FHa Upper limit flag on FHa
212-220 F9.3 10-17W/m2 FHa ?=- Hα 6562 attenuation and
aperture corrected flux (HA6562_FLUX)
222-229 F8.3 10-17W/m2 e_FHa ?=- Hα 6562 flux error
(HA6562FLUXERR)
231-240 F10.3 10-17W/m2 FHabck Hα 6562 background flux
(HA6562FLUXBACK)
242-248 F7.3 --- HaSNR ?=- Hα 6562 signal-to-noise ratio
(HA6562_SNR)
249 A1 --- l_F[NII] Upper limit flag on F[NII]
250-258 F9.3 10-17W/m2 F[NII] ?=- Line [NII] 6583 attenuation and
aperture corrected flux (NII6583_FLUX)
260-267 F8.3 10-17W/m2 e_F[NII] ?=- Line [NII] 6583 flux error
(NII6583FLUXERR)
269-278 F10.3 10-17W/m2 F[NII]bck Line [NII] 6583 background flux
(NII6583FLUXBACK)
280-286 F7.3 --- [NII]SNR ?=- Line [NII] 6583 signal-to-noise
ratio (NII6583_SNR)
287 A1 --- l_F[SII] Upper limit flag on F[SII]
288-296 F9.3 10-17W/m2 F[SII] ?=- Line [SII]6717+[SII]6731 attenuation
and aperture corrected flux (SII_FLUX)
298-305 F8.3 10-17W/m2 e_F[SII] ?=- Line [SII]6717+[SII]6731 flux error
(SIIFLUXERR)
307-315 F9.3 10-17W/m2 F[SII]bck Line [SII]6717+[SII]6731 background flux
(SIIFLUXBACK)
317-322 F6.3 --- [SII]SNR ?=- Line [SII]6717+[SII]6731
signal-to-noise ratio (SII_SNR)
324-329 F6.3 mag m5007 Magnitude [OIII] 5007 (m5007)
331-335 F5.3 mag e_m5007 Error on the [OIII] 5007 magnitude
(dm5007)
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Acknowledgements:
Enrico Congiu, econgiu(at)eso.org
References:
Jacoby, 1989ApJ...339...39J 1989ApJ...339...39J,
Planetary Nebulae as Standard Candles. I. Evolutionary Models
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 16-Jun-2025