Planetary Nebulae in NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)

Abstract

The study of planetary nebulae (PNe) in the nearby post-merger elliptical galaxy NGC 5128 (Cen A) now has a history of nearly twenty years. As the nearest giant elliptical, it is a prime target for extragalactic PN studies. These studies have addressed many issues including the galaxy's distance, dark matter content, halo structure, merger history, and stellar populations. We review the main PN studies that have been conducted in NGC 5128, and introduce a new study where we measure the [NII]/H-alpha ratio for 134 PNe. We find that there are no PNe in our sample that are obviously of Type I, supporting the idea that the last major star formation event in the galaxy halo occurred over 1-2 Gyr ago.

8 pages, 5 figures, review talk to appear in the proceedings of the ESO Workshop "Planetary Nebulae beyond the Milky Way", Garching (Germany), May 19-21, 2004 eds. L. Stanghellini, J. R. Walsh & N. Douglas