Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 1998
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998baas...30..768t&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society Meeting, 191, #130.02
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We present measurements of the nuclear spectrum of M87 obtained with the HST Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) trough a 0.21'' aperture and covering the wavelength region 1150 -- 6820 Angstroms. The spectrum is dominated by the smooth nonthermal continuum of the central source with a number of absorption and emission lines imprinted on it. There is essentially no trace of starlight at any wavelength. No single power law produces an acceptable fit to the observed continuum shape with any amount of reddening and/or exctinction law. A good continuum fit is produced by a broken power law with a break at ~ 4500 Angstroms and spectral indices alpha = 1.75 and 1.41 (F_ν ~ nu (-alpha ) ) shortward and longward of the break, respectively, and a small amount of reddening, E(B-V) = 0.039 with normal exctinction curve. We detect two sets of absorption lines -- one arising in our Galaxy and one in the gas associated with M87. The galactic lines are unresolved at the FOS resolution, while those arising in M87 have FWHM ~ 400 km s(-1) . The gas producing the absorption is blueshifted with respect to the systemic velocity of M87 by ~ 150 km s(-1) , indicating an outflow. The excitation sensitive emission line ratios indicate that shocks may be the dominant energy supplier.
Ford Holland C.
Kriss Gerard Anthony
Tsvetanov Zlatan I.
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