Ultraviolet shell formation at V1016 Cygni

Abstract

A recent 330 minute high-resolution International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) spectrogram of V1016 Cygni shows splitting of the 1550 A component of the C IV resonance doublet, suggesting that a nebular shell is in the process of formation. An expansion velocity of 15 km/s is indicated by the IUE data and corresponds to the low range encountered with normal planetary nebulae, but IUE data of V1016 Cyg, taken approximately one year earlier, do not show split C IV lines. The recent IUE observations are consistent with VLA contour maps at 1.3 cm made by Newell and Hjellming (1981) and by Hjellming and Bignell (1982) that morphologically show an extended shell-type object. Thus, V1016 Cyg may have undergone an event which forms a planetary nebula.