Abstract
The peculiar galaxy NGC1275 = Per A = 3C84 remains a problem in the classification of extragalactic sources despite intensive study in all available wavebands. Included in Seyfert's original list1, it was described as a Seyfert 2 by Khachikian and Weedman2 on the basis of observed emission line profiles. Later Weedman3, however, declined to classify NGC1275 and most recently Véron4 has suggested that on the basis of its emission line spectrum, variability and radio and polarimetric properties we should regard NGC1275 as a (rather anomalous) BL Lac object. We present here results of IUE spectrophotometry of NGC1275 which show an absorption feature identified with Lyα at a velocity of 8,200 km s−1. We attribute the origin of this feature to the intervening galaxy responsible for the high velocity emission filaments seen around NGC1275. Profile fitting yields a neutral hydrogen column density in the absorbing medium NH ∼ 1.8 × 1020 atoms cm−2. Combining this result with available 21-cm absorption data yields a spin temperature Ts ∼ 52 K for the absorbing gas, typical of that in interstellar H I clouds seen in our Galaxy. The implications of these results are discussed.
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Briggs, S., Snijders, M. & Boksenberg, A. Lyα absorption at a high velocity in NGC1275. Nature 300, 336–337 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/300336a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/300336a0
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