Planetary nebula luminosity function: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:40, 14 August 2015

Revision as of 17:42, 14 August 2015

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== Procedure ==

To estimate the distance to a galaxy using the PNLF one must first locate point sources within the galaxy that are visible at λ5007 but not when the entire spectrum is considered. These points are candidate PNe, however, there are three other types of objects that would also exhibit such an emission line that must be filtered out: [[HII region|HII&nbsp;regions]], [[supernova remnant]]s, and [[Lyα galaxy|Lyα galaxies]]. After the PNe are determined, to estimate a distance one must measure their monochromatic <nowiki>[O&nbsp;III]</nowiki> λ5007 fluxeslumonisity. What remains is a statistical sample of

PNe. The observed luminosity function is then fitted to some standard law.<ref name="Ciardullo2004">{{harvnb|Ciardullo|2004}}</ref>