Mid-IR Spectroscopy of Planetary Nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

The use of infrared observations has improved the abundance determination in galactic nebulae because it avoids/reduces many problems usually encountered when deriving abundances using optical or ultraviolet data. Furthermore, the peak of dust emission occurs in the infrared and features such as PAHs and silicates can only be studied in this part of the spectrum. The unprecedented sensitivity of the Spitzer Space Telescope makes the study of planetary nebulae outside the Milky Way in the infrared possible. We present the first results of the guaranteed-time-observations program which has been designed to study a number of planetary nebulae in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds using the Infrared Spectrograph on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]