Do the Nuclei of Elliptical Galaxies Eat Planetary Nebulae?

The dusty gas observed in elliptical galaxies must ultimately be derived from the population of planetary nebulae. However, if this gas had passed through the hot phase, most of the dust it contains would have been destroyed. In this paper we show that ram-pressure stripping of PNe envelopes in a high pressure interstellar environment can recompress the dusty material ejected during the AGB phase of evolution, and allow cold dusty clouds to fall intact towards the central regions of the galaxy, there to be available to power the active nucleus.