2000MNRAS.318...77H

With the Hamilton echelle spectrograph at the Lick Observatory, emission-rich spectral lines of the planetary nebula NGC 6543 were secured in the wavelength range from 3550 to 10100Å. We chose two bright regions, ∼8arcsec east and ∼13arcsec north of the central star, the physical conditions and chemical abundances of which may differ as a result of the different physical characteristics involving the mass ejection of different epochs. By combining Hamilton echelle observations with archive UV data secured with the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), we obtain improved diagnostics and chemical compositions for the two observed regions. The diagnostic diagram gives the average value of T_e=8000∼8300K, and the electron number density near N_e∼5000cm^–3 for most ions, while some low-excitation lines indicate much higher temperatures, i.e. T_e∼10000K. With the construction of a photoionization model, we try to fit the observed spectra in a self-consistent way: thus, for most elements, we employ the same chemical abundances in the nebular shell; and we adopt an improved Sobolev approximation model atmosphere for the hydrogen-deficient Wolf-Rayet type central star. Within the observational errors, the chemical abundances do not seem to show any positional variation except for helium. The chemical abundances of NGC 6543 appear to be the same as in average planetary nebulae. The progenitor star may have been an object of one solar mass, most of the heavier elements of which were less plentiful than in the Sun.