MASH: The Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg Hα planetary nebula catalogue

Abstract

The Macquarie/AAO/Strasbourg Hα Planetary Nebula Catalogue (MASH) of nearly 1000 new Galactic Planetary Nebulae (PNe) discovered from the AAO/UKST Hα survey of the southern Galactic plane is now essentially complete. The survey's excellent combination of resolution, uniformity, areal coverage and depth has enabled detection of this unprecedented new PN sample. MASH PNe are typically more evolved, obscured, of larger angular extent, and of lower surface brightness than those in most previous surveys. The number of PNe in the Galactic bulge has also been doubled. Though most of these are quite compact, more evolved examples have been found. The MASH catalogue represents a seven year programme of discovery and spectroscopic confirmation and will form the basis for significant studies. A key strength is that the whole sample has been obtained from the same, uniform survey data. The 75% increase in known Galactic PNe represents the largest single increase in such discoveries. MASH PNe will have a significant impact on many aspects of PNe research, especially for studies at the extremes of the luminosity function which were previously poorly represented. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.