Optical Polarization and Near‐Infrared Photometry of the Proto–planetary Nebula Henize 3‐1475

We present BVRI CCD aperture polarization and near-infrared photometry of the proto-planetary nebula Hen 3-1475. Its intrinsic polarization is high and shows a strong spectral dependence. The position angles in all bands are perpendicular to the axis of the observed bipolar structure. A Monte Carlo code is used to model the intrinsic polarization of Hen 3-1475. Using disk dimensions and other constraints suggested by previous works, we are able to reproduce the observations with an optically thick disk composed by grains with a power-law size distribution ranging from 0.06 to 0.22 mum. We also reliably estimate the foreground polarization from hundreds of stars contained in the CCD images. It is parallel to the intrinsic polarization of Hen 3-1475. Possible implications of this result are discussed. From IR observations, we estimate an interstellar reddening, AV, of about 3.2.