Comment on “Chandra Reveals X-ray Glint in the Cat’s Eye”

Chu et al. (2001) report that they find the diffuse X-ray emission from the Cat’s Eye Nebula, NGC 6543, to be inconsistent with nebular abundances but consistent with abundances expected for the stellar wind although the location and the derived temperature for the X-ray emitting region of NGC 6543 require that a significant fraction of the X-ray emitting material be nebular. A recent determination by Bernard-Salas et al. (2003) of nebular abundances in NGC 6543 incorporating infrared, optical, and ultraviolet observations provides a resolution of this apparent anomaly. Subject headings: planetary nebulae: general–planetary nebulae: individual (NGC 6543)–stars: winds, outflows–X-rays: ISM Chu et al. (2001) found that the X-ray spectrum of NGC 6543 could be adequately fit using stellar wind abundances but not with abundances that had been reported for the nebular material in this object (Aller & Czyzak 1983; Pwa, Pottasch, & Mo 1984; Manchado & Pottasch 1989; de Koter, Hubeny, Heap, & Lanz 1996). Chu et al. (2001) emphasized that the low temperature they derive for the X-ray emitting material (1.7×10K) is puzzling since Department of Physics, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 50112 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138