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To understand the evolution and morphology of planetary nebulae, a detailed knowledge of their central stars is required. Central stars that exhibit emission lines in their spectra, indicating stellar mass-loss allow to study the evolution of planetary nebulae in action. Emission line central stars constitute about 10 % of all central stars. Half of them are practically hydrogen-free Wolf-Rayet type central stars of the carbon sequence, [WC], that show strong emission lines of carbon and oxygen in their spectra. In this contribution we address the weak emission-lines central stars (wels). These stars are poorly analyzed and their hydrogen content is mostly unknown. We obtained optical spectra, that include the important Balmer lines of hydrogen, for four weak emission line central stars. We present the results of our analysis, provide spectral classification and discuss possible explanations for their formation and evolution.
The nucleus of Hen 2-428 is a short orbital period (4.2 h) spectroscopic binary, whose status as potential supernovae type Ia progenitor has raised some controversy in the literature. We present preliminary results of a thorough analysis of this interesting system, which combines quantitative non-local thermodynamic (non-LTE) equilibrium spectral modelling, radial velocity analysis, multi-band light curve fitting, and state-of-the art stellar evolutionary calculations. Importantly, we find that the dynamical system mass that is derived by using all available He II lines does not exceed the Chandrasekhar mass limit. Furthermore, the individual masses of the two central stars are too small to lead to an SN Ia in case of a dynamical explosion during the merger process.
The development of infrared observational facilities has revealed a number of massive stars in obscured environments throughout the Milky Way and beyond. The determination of their stellar and wind properties from infrared diagnostics is thus required to take full advantage of the wealth of observations available in the near and mid infrared. However, the task is challenging. This session addressed some of the problems encountered and showed the limitations and successes of infrared studies of massive stars.