Abell 30 -- A Binary Central Star Among the Born-Again Planetary Nebulae

George H. Jacoby, Todd C. Hillwig, David Jones

Published 2020-08-04Version 1

Eight planetary nebulae have been identified as `born-again', a class of object typified by knotty secondary ejecta having low masses ($\sim$$10^{-4}$ M$_{\odot}$) with nearly no hydrogen. Abell 30, the archetype of the class, also belongs to a small subset of planetary nebulae that exhibit extreme abundance discrepancy factors (where Abell 30 is the most extreme), a phenomenon strongly linked to binary star interactions. We report the presence of light curve brightness variations having a period of 1.060 days that are highly suggestive of a binary central star in Abell 30. If confirmed, this detection supports the proposed link between binary central stars and extreme abundance discrepancies.