A 500 km s-1 outflow from the young bipolar planetary nebula Mz 3

Abstract

We report the discovery of a pair of hypersonic (≃±500 km s−1) velocity features located along the bipolar axis of the young planetary nebula Mz 3. The possible physical mechanisms that can produce such extreme outflows are briefly discussed and compared with mechanisms thought to operate in MyCn 18, He 2–111 and KjPn 8, all of which exhibit equally remarkable hypersonic outflows of differing kinds.