Morphology and Kinematics of Planetary Nebulae. II. A Diabolo Model for NGC 3132

Abstract

We use a three-dimensional photoionization modeling tool to study the morphokinematic properties of the planetary nebula NGC 3132. We show that it is possible to reproduce the low-resolution observations (spectra and images) with an ellipsoidal shell. However, high-resolution observations, as those showing a density variation along the nebula and the [O III] λ5007 velocity profiles, definitively rule out this description. We show that a bipolar Diabolo shape with a 40° rotation of the symmetry axis relative to the line of sight successfully reproduces the observed images, as well as the high-resolution observations.