Eight planetary nebulae (PNe) are known to emit OH and/or H2O masers, but there is no report of an SiO maser in this type of objects. We present a search for SiO masers in 16 confirmed and candidate PNe, carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. We found no evidence of association between SiO masers and PNe in our data. Previous detections of thermal SiO emission in PNe show that these molecules can be present in gas phase in this type of objects, but it is not yet clear whether they can be found where the physical conditions are appropriate for maser pumping. We suggest that the best candidates for a new search would be PNe showing high-velocity outflows.

Planetary nebulae (PNe) harbouring masers of H2O (H2OPNe) and/or OH (OHPNe) are thought to be nascent PNe. They are extremely scarce, and so far only eight members are know to date. Here we explain our current effort to identify new H2OPNe and/or OHPNe. We report IRAS 07027–7934 as a new bona fine OHPN. Its 1612 MHz OH spectrum seems to be changing from double- to single-peaked since the redshifted emission has vanished almost completely, and the 1667 MHz OH maser emission has disappeared. For the OHPN Vy 2-2, we found that its central star is unexpectedly carbon (C)-rich, has a low-mass progenitor, and could be a post-common envelope binary system. Moreover, we confirm Vy 2-2 as a nascent PN. We speculate that low-mass C-rich central stars in post-common envelope systems could be a common end of H2OPNe and OHPNe.

Trichomonas vaginalis induces cellular damage to the host cells (cytotoxicity) through the proteolytic activity of multiple proteinases of the cysteine type (CPs). Some CPs are modulated by environmental factors such as iron, zinc, polyamines, etc. Thus, the goal of this study was to assess the effect of glucose on T. vaginalis cytotoxicity, proteolytic activity and the particular role of TvCP2 (TVAG_057000) during cellular damage. Cytotoxicity assays showed that glucose-restriction (GR) promotes the highest HeLa cell monolayers destruction (~95%) by trichomonads compared to those grown under high glucose (~44%) condition. Zymography and Western blot using different primary antibodies showed that GR increased the proteolytic activity, amount and secretion of certain CPs, including TvCP2. We further characterized the effect of glucose on TvCP2. TvCP2 increases in GR, localized in vesicles close to the plasma membrane and on the surface of T. vaginalis. Furthermore, pretreatment of GR-trichomonads with an anti-TvCP2r polyclonal antibody specifically reduced the levels of cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction to HeLa cells in a concentration-dependent manner. In conclusion, our data show that GR, as a nutritional stress condition, promotes trichomonal cytotoxicity to the host cells, increases trichomonad proteolytic activity and amount of CPs, such as TvCP2 involved in cellular damage.

Only five planetary nebulae (PNe) have been confirmed to emit water masers. They seem to be very young PNe. The water emission in these objects preferentially traces circumstellar toroids, although in K 3-35 and IRAS 15103-5754, it may also trace collimated jets. We present water maser observations of these two sources at different epochs. The water maser distribution changes on timescales of months to a few years. We speculate that these changes may be due to the variation of the underlying radio continuum emission, which is amplified by the maser process in the foreground material.

The detection of new binary central stars of planetary nebulae is crucial to definitively determine the importance of binary interactions in the nebular morphology. In this context, we are working on a project that aims to increase the low number of binary central stars detected so far. For that, we are first analyzing public archival data in order to discover potential candidates of binary central stars. These candidates will be subsequently followed-up in order to confirm and characterize them. Here we present our ongoing search and some preliminary results.

We present studies using different observational techniques, along different frequencies, aiming to resolve and investigate jets, outflows, as well as compact and innermost regions of asymmetric planetary nebulae (PNe) and objects in transition to PN. All the information gathered allow us to explore the kinematics and other important properties of the structures that play a crucial role in the shaping of complex PNe morphologies, in particular, we explore the role of disks/tori as collimating engine of extreme axisymmetric PNe.

It has been suggested that the presence of disks or tori around the central stars of pre Planetary Nebulae and Planetary Nebulae is related to the collimation of the jet that are frequently observed in these sources. These disks or tori can be traced by the maser emission of some molecules such as water. In this work we present Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the water maser emission at 22 GHz toward the PN IRAS 18061–2505, for which the masers appear located on one side of the central star. For comparison with the observations, we present a simple kinematical model of a disk rotating and expanding around the central star. The model matches qualitatively the observations. However, since the masers appear only on one side of the disk, these results are not conclusive.

Water fountains are evolved stars showing water masers with velocity spanning more than ~100 km/s. They usually appear at the end of the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) phase or at the beginning of the post-AGB phase, and their masers trace the first manifestation of axisymmetric collimated mass-loss. For the first time, masers with water fountain characteristics have been detected towards a PN (IRAS 15103–5754), which might require a revision of the current theories about jet formation and survival times. IRAS 15103-5754 was observed using the ATCA interferometer at 22 GHz (both continuum and water maser). The main results of these observations are summarized here. The evolutionary classification of this object is also discussed.

Kn 26 is a recently identified planetary nebula (PN). To confirm its nature and study its spatio-kinematical structure, we have obtained high spatial-resolution optical and near-IR narrowband images, high-dispersion long-slit echelle spectra, and intermediate-resolution spectroscopic observations. The new data confirm the PN nature of Kn 26 and reveal features typical of bipolar PNe: hourglass morphology, H2 emission, and nitrogen enrichment. A detailed analysis of its morphology and kinematics, however, suggests the presence of one additional pair of bipolar lobes that would make Kn 26 a new member of the class of quadrupolar PNe.

We present narrow-band optical and near-IR images, and high-resolution long-slit spectra of the planetary nebula Hu 1-2 that allow us to make a detailed description of its unusual morphology and internal kinematics. The data also reveal that the ansae of Hu 1-2 probably represent bow-shocks associated to high velocity outflows that are irradiated from the central star.

“Water fountains” (WF) are post-AGB stars characterized by very fast and often bipolar jets in the water maser line at 22 GHz. We conducted a survey of the CO and 13CO line emission using the IRAM 30m radio telescope of all the sources visible from the observatory. Over a total of 10 WFs observed, we identified CO and 13CO associated to IRAS 18460-0151 and IRAS 18596+0315. As the CO line emission is ubiquitous in the Galactic plane, the confirmed detections have met strict criteria to consider these cases as confirmed detections. The velocity components associated to the WFs are ~ 40 km s−1 wide, centered at the star velocity, present only at the star position, and detected in the four observed transitions, the CO and 13CO J=1→0 and 2→1 lines. A preliminary study, based on line ratios, indicates that this molecular component has a high opacity, and a very low 12C/13C isotopic ratio.

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.

Gaia, the forthcoming astrometric ESA survey, is expected to substantially improve our knowledge about the distances to galactic planetary nebulae (PNe). We present an overview of Gaia mission and focus in some aspects which are relevant for the study of PNe. In particular, we present our simulations on Gaia spectrophotometric observations obtained by means of GOG (Gaia Object Generator) for a catalogue of proto-PNe and PNe (Suárez et al. 2006) which can be used as templates to classify and study the suitability of Gaia spectrophotometry to infer physical properties of the sources.

We present narrow-band images and high resolution long-slit spectra of the compact planetary nebulae M 1-66, He 2-115, K 3-1, K 3-13 and K 3-30, which present evidence of collimated outflows. Our data reveal the internal structure and kinematics of these objects for the first time.

Water-vapour masers, typical of the envelopes in giant stars, are not expected to persist in planetary nebulae due to the ultraviolet radiation of the remnant star that progressively destroys the molecules. Recently, we have reported the first unambiguous detection of water maser emission in a planetary nebula, K 3–35 (Miranda et al. 2001). The water masers in K3–35 were detected at the center of the nebula, along the minor axis, at a radius of ~85 AU and also at the surprisingly large distance of 5000 AU from the star, at the tips of the bipolar lobes. The existence of these water molecules is puzzling, and probably we are observing the very moment of transformation of a giant star into a planetary nebula. Miranda et al. (2001) also report the presence of polarization in the OH 1665 MHz masers, which are distributed towards the central star in a torus-like structure. Here we review the main results on this source.

We report results from observations taken at different wavelengths (optical, radio and NIR) of the bipolar Protoplanetary Nebula OH 231.8+4.2. Radio interferometry with high spatial resolution has been particularly revealing. We study the complex structure and dynamics of this object as well as its rich chemistry.