SIMBAD references

We apply a method, described in Gorny et al. (1997A&A...318..256G), to derive the masses of 125 central stars of planetary nebulae (PN). This method is self-consistent and distance-independent. It requires the knowledge of the nebular Hβ fluxes, angular radii and expansion velocities, as well as the stellar visual magnitudes. This method is based on a simple model for the evolution of planetary nebulae, in which the central stars evolve according to the theoretical models of Bloecker (1995A&A...299..755B) and Schoenberner (1983ApJ...272..708S). The results are dependent on the assumed total nebular mass. Nevertheless, for any reasonable total nebular mass distribution, we find that the range in planetary nebulae central star masses is very restricted: more than 80% of the objects have a central star mass between 0.55 and 0.65M_☉. We show how to convert, in this mass range, the observed PN central star mass distribution into a zero-age post-AGB star mass distribution.