The Magellanic Clouds are close enough to the Milky Way to provide an excellent environment in which to study extragalactic PNe. Most of these PNe are bright enough to be spectroscopically observed and spatially resolved. With the latest high resolution detectors on today's large telescopes it is even possible to directly observe a large number of central stars. Magellanic Cloud (MC) PNe provide several astrophysical benefits including low overall extinction and a good sample size covering a large range of dynamic evolutionary timescales while the known distances provide a direct estimation of luminosity and physical dimensions. Multi-wavelength surveys are revealing intriguing differences between MC and Galactic PNe.

Over the past 5 years there has been a substantial increase in the number of PNe discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in particular. Deep surveys have allowed the faint end of the luminosity function to be investigated, finally providing a strong clue to its overall shape. In so doing, the surveys are approaching completeness, estimated at ~80% in the LMC (~120 deg2) and ~65% in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) (~20 deg2).

The number of galaxies comprising the Local Group (LG) and its outskirts has been growing steadily over the past 5 years and now numbers 48. Most of the 7 newly discovered galaxies are dwarf spheroidal (dSph) in structure and range from 7.6 to 755 kpc from the Milky Way. Nonetheless, there are no published searches for PNe in any of these galaxies to date. Apart from the LMC and Milky Way, the number of PN discoveries has been very modest and only one additional LG galaxy has been surveyed for PNe over the past 5 years. This paper provides the number of Local Group PNe currently known and estimates each galaxy's total PN population.

Galactic post-AGB stars show a large diversity in chemical compositions as well as in the kinematical and geometrical properties of their circumstellar material. The theoretical interpretation is hampered by the lack of good distances to almost all Galactic objects. We therefore initiated a large project to study systematically post-AGB stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud (LMC, SMC respectively). Here we report on our preliminary results.

Recent studies have shown that nuclei of planetary nebulae and their remnants (dubbed HOLMES for “hot low-mass evolved stars”) can easily explain two long-standing problems of extragalactic astronomy: the observed emission-line spectra of ellipticals and LINER-like galaxies and the ionization and heating of the diffuse interstellar medium in spirals. They are summarized in this contribution. It is emphasized that the computation of grids of stellar evolution models until the white dwarf stage is essential not only for the study of planetary nebulae but also for the study of the ionization of galaxies.

The brightest planetary nebulae achieve similar maximum luminosities, have similar ratios of chemcial abundances, and apparently share similar kinematics in all galaxies. These similarities, however, are not necessarily expected theoretically and appear to hide important evolutionary differences. As predicted theoretically, metallicity appears to affect nebular kinematics, if subtly, and there is a clear variation with evolutionary stage. To the extent that it can be investigated, the internal kinematics for galactic and extragalactic planetary nebulae are similar. The extragalactic planetary nebulae for which kinematic data exist, though, probably pertain to a small range of progenitor masses, so there may still be much left to learn, particularly concerning the kinematics of planetary nebulae that descend from the more massive progenitors.

The study of the chemical composition of Planetary Nebulae in external galaxies is of paramount importance for the fields of stellar evolution and chemical enrichment history of galaxies. In recent years a number of spectroscopic studies with 6-8m-class telescopes have been devoted to this subject improving our knowledge of, among other, the time-evolution of the radial metallicity gradient in disk galaxies, the chemical evolution of dwarf galaxies, and stellar evolution at low metallicity.

Galactic bulge planetary nebulae show evidence of mixed chemistry with emission from both silicate dust and PAHs. This mixed chemistry is unlikely to be related to carbon dredge up, as third dredge-up is not expected to occur in the low mass bulge stars. We show that the phenomenon is widespread, and is seen in 30 nebulae out of our sample of 40. A strong correlation is found between strength of the PAH bands and morphology, in particular, the presence of a dense torus. A chemical model is presented which shows that hydrocarbon chains can form within oxygen-rich gas through gas-phase chemical reactions. We conclude that the mixed chemistry phenomenon occurring in the galactic bulge planetary nebulae is best explained through hydrocarbon chemistry in an UV-irradiated, dense torus.

Spectrophotometric data of a number of planetary nebulae and compact HII regions of NGC 300 have been obtained with the FORS 2 spectrograph of the VLT. We present a preliminary analysis of such data.

This review highlights the properties of the planetary nebulae in external galaxies as tracers of light, of the stellar population properties, and of the distances and kinematics of the parent galaxies. Recent results on the kinematics of the outer regions in giant elliptical galaxies and on the luminosity specific PN numbers (the α parameter) in these systems are presented, based on current surveys of planetary nebulae with the Planetary Nebulae Spectrograph (PN.S) and other instruments. Finally a brief discussion is given of planetary nebulae as tracers of the diffuse light in the nearby clusters, such as Virgo and Hydra I.

We present a preliminary analysis of known planetary nebulae (PNe) in M31 that were observed in the first year of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury HST Multi-cycle program. We use the properties of this sample to discuss PNe from this new multi-band survey.

NGC 5128 at 3.8 Mpc is the nearest large elliptical galaxy and is ideally suited to a detailed study of its planetary nebula population. Two spectroscopic programmes are summarised. More than 1200 PNe candidates are known from imaging campaigns in NGC 5128 and accurate radial velocities of 1070 have been measured with the VLT FLAMES/Giraffe spectrometer. From these data a variety of studies of the galaxy kinematics are enabled, such as search for PN sub-groups, representing the relics of accretion of small galaxies. Emission line spectra were observed with VLT FORS and the light element abundances determined for 40 PNe through photoionization modelling. A spread in O abundance of about 0.9 dex is found but no obvious radial gradient out to 19 kpc. Comparison of the O abundance from these PN with the metallicity for the stellar population in the neighbourhood of the PN will probe the star formation and enrichment history of the galaxy. Full results from this analysis will be presented in a forthcoming paper.

Thanks to SAURON integral-field observations we uncovered the planetary nebulae (PNe) populations inhabiting the central and nuclear regions of our galactic neighbours M32 and M31, respectively, and discuss the significant differences between their corresponding PNe luminosity functions in light of the properties of their parent stellar populations. In particular, we conclude that the lack of bright PNe in the nuclear regions of M31 is likely linked to the nearly Solar value for the stellar metallicity, consistent with previous suggestions that a larger metallicity would bias the horizontal-branch (HB) populations toward bluer colors, leading to fewer red HB stars capable of producing PNe and more blue HB stars that instead could contribute to the far-UV flux observed in metal-rich early-type galaxies and, incidentally, in the nucleus of M31.

The ESO VLT on Paranal is in transition from first generation instrumentation to second generation, or at least to substantially upgraded instrumentation. The new instrumentation shall establish multipicity gain, high image definition or integral field imaging spectroscopy. Starting from observational highlights, status and trends for groundbased instrumentation will be revisited with emphasis on the field of PNe in all evolutionary phases. This review will concentrate on spectroscopy and scientific cases where groundbased observations offer a particular advantage. To the extent possible, a projection will be given as to the potential of the extremely large telescopes on the horizon, which will work best in the (near-)infrared.

A comparison between the past four decades of astrophysical space missions and those expected to be launched over the next decade shows a marked decrease in numbers. However, missions such as Gaia and the JWST are expected to have a major impact on planetary nebula research. The capabilities of these and other anticipated space missions are discussed.

We present high resolution long-slit spectra from the San Pedro Martir kinematic catalogue (López et al. 2012) of plantetary nebulae M1-32 and M2-42 and their modeled PV diagrams using the 3-D morpho-kinematic code SHAPE. We find high-speed collimated outflows, surrounded by a equatorial thick torus/ring. The same SHAPE model is able to fit both planetary nebulae assuming one cylindrical velocity field for the outflows and one Hubble-law for the torus/ring concluding that they may be akin objects which just appear at different projections.

We present a new kinematic analysis technique called distance mapping. It uses the observed proper motion vectors and the 3-D velocity field to determine the distance for each vector. From this information we generate maps that can be use as a constraint to morpho-kinematic modeling with SHAPE. It is applied to BD +30°3639, using the internal proper motion measurements by Li et al. (2002). We determine its distance at 1.40 kpc ± 0.15 kpc.

We present a unified model of the central star and the ionized gas of the planetary nebula He2-131. Preliminary values of the nebular and stellar parameters are given together with those of the chemical composition.

GALEX (the Galaxy Evolution Explorer) has provided far-UV(1344-1786Å) and near-UV(1771-2831Å) imaging of several Planetary Nebulae (e.g., Bianchi et al. 2008, Bianchi 2012), with flux limits ~27.5 mag/sq.arcsec for objects in the Medium-deph Imaging Survey (MIS). PNe images in the GALEX broad-band UV filters include flux from both nebular line and continuum emission. We use the GALEX grism observing mode to obtain slitless spectral imaging of a sample of PNe with diameters >1′, in the near-UV. We show the first data from this program. The grism produces 2D images of the prominent UV nebular emission lines, when such lines dominate the flux. Combined with monochromatic images of diagnostic lines in the optical domain, such data help detect and interpret ionization and shock fronts, especially in faint nebular regions.

In our Spitzer 24 μm survey of hot white dwarfs (WDs) we found 9 WDs with IR excesses, 7 of them are still central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNs). We have thus carried out a Spitzer archival survey of CSPNs, and found additional objects with IR excesses. To date, a total of 13 CSPNs show IR excesses from Spitzer observations. These mid-IR excesses are indicative of the presence of circumstellar dust, which could be produced by collisions or disruption of sub-planetary objects. To further assess the nature of these IR excesses, we have obtained Spitzer IRS, Gemini NIRI and Michelle, and KPNO 4m echelle spectra of these objects. In this poster, we summarize the spectroscopic observations and discuss the nature of these IR excesses.

K3-35 is an extremely young bipolar planetary nebula that contains a precessing bipolar jet and a small (radius 80 AU) water maser equatorial ring. We have obtained VISIR-VLT images of K3-35 in the PAH1 (λ=8.6 μm), [S iv] (λ=10.6 μm), and SiC (λ=11.85 μm) filters to analize the mid-IR morphology and the temperature structure of its dust emission. The images show the innermost nebular regions undetected at optical wavelegths and the precessing bipolar jets. The temperature map shows variations in the temperature in the equatorial zone and in regions associated to its jets.

We have found the central star of Abell 70 (PN G038.1–25.4, hereafter A 70) to be a binary consisting of a G8 IV-V secondary and a hot white dwarf. The secondary shows enhanced Ba II and Sr II features, firmly classifying it as a barium star. The nebula is found to have Type-I chemical abundances with helium and nitrogen enrichment, which combined with future abundance studies of the central star, will establish A 70 as a unique laboratory for studying s-process AGB nucleosynthesis.