Invited_talk abstract details

The Spitzer Space Observatory has made targeted IRAC and/or MIPS observations of ~100 PNe, and the Spitzer survey of the Galactic plane (GLIMPSE) has detected many more PNe serendipitously. The IR images can be compared with optical images to diagnose the nature of the IR emission, whether it consists of nebular lines or dust continuum. The IRS spectra of the nebulae can be further used to confirm the nature of the IR emission, study chemical compositions, and discover exotic molecules. Spitzer observations of the central stars of PNe (CSPNs) have revealed IR excesses indicative of circumstellar dust. These circumstellar dust disks have been suggested to be produced by collisions among sub-planetary bodies in their planetary systems. Dust production through binary interactions cannot be ruled out, but the presence of binary companions is not known for most CSPNs showing mid-IR excesses