Stars: The End

Planetary nebulae reflect the death throes of Sun-like stars, . During
their final phase of nuclear burning, between 20% and 80% of the mass
of the star is ejected through a 'super'-wind.  The ejection process
determines the white dwarf mass distribution, and is the origin of up
to half of the gas and dust in the ISM.  The cause, evolution and
composition of this catastrophic mass loss is still a matter of
debate. Observations of planetary nebulae and their progeny, AGB
stars, provide important constraints on the superwind and its
origin. This talk will discuss mass loss in RGB and AGB stars,
including the fate of iron, the formation process of PAHs, and the
formation and destruction of dust disks. Observations of planetary
nebulae in the Galactic Bulge provide surprising results on the binary
stellar population of the Galactic Bulge.