Poster abstract details

Among its great findings, the IRAS mission showed the existence of an unidentified mid-IR feature around 21~$mu$m. Since its discovery, this feature has been detected in all C-rich proto-PNe of intermediate spectral type (A--G) and - weakly - in a few PNe and AGB stars, but the nature of its carriers remains unknown. In this contribution, we show the detection of this feature in the spectra of three new stars transiting from the AGB to the PN stage obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Following a recent suggestion, we try to model the SEDs of our targets with amorphous carbon and FeO, which might be responsible for the unidentified feature. The fit thus obtained is not completely satisfactory, since the shape of the feature is not well matched. In the attempt to relate the unidentified feature to other dust features, we noticed a correlation between the flux emitted in the 21-$mu$m feature and that emitted at 7 and 11 $mu$m (PAH bands and HAC broad emission). Such a correlation may point to a common nature of the carriers.