On the most metal-poor PN and its binary central star

Abstract

PN G135.9+55.9 is the most metal-poor PN known in our Galaxy. The central star resides in a short-period binary system with a compact component, probably a white dwarf. We describe new observations, which allowed us to determine the orbital period. The lower limit for the combined mass of both stars is close to the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarfs, making this binary a possible progenitor of a supernova type Ia. The binary system must have recently emerged from a common envelope phase.

Proceedings of the conference "Planetary Nebulae as Astronomical Tools", Gdansk, June/July 2005. To appear in AIP conference series