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Published August 15, 1987 | Published
Journal Article Open

Extended Lyman-α emission in 3C 326.1 - A 100 kiloparsec cloud of ionized gas at a redshift of 1.82

Abstract

We report the discovery of a large cloud of ionized gas associated with the high-redshift radio source 3C 326.1 New radio-frequency images made at 4.9 GHz and 15 GHz with the Very Large Array show the radio source to be a small double (~ 7") without a detectable core at the level of ~ 0.5 mJy. Long-slit spectrograms and Lγa imaging reveal a ~ 100 kpc diameter cloud of ionized gas with a redshift of 1.825 encompassing the radio source. Deep broad-band images show two faint (V = 23.5-24.5) blue objects located on the periphery of the cloud, as well as some very faint (V = 25-26) extremely blue diffuse objects roughly coincident with the brightest regions of the cloud. Long-slit CCD spectra suggest that the Lγa emission from the cloud has a large intrinsic width (FWHM ≈ 1000 km s^(-1)). Spectra taken in the red show weak extended emission from C II] and C III], but C IV emission has not been detected. The large equivalent width of Lγa and the relative strengths of the carbon lines are consistent with H n region-type photoionization. We tentatively propose that 3C 326.1 is a young and/or forming galaxy.

Additional Information

© 1987 The American Astronomical Society. Provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System. Received 1987 April 2; accepted 1987 June 8. Based in part on observations performed at Lick Observatory, University of California, the Kitt Peak National Observatory (NOAO) and the Multiple Mirror Observatory, a joint facility of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona. We would like to thank the staffs of the Lick Observatory, the Kitt Peak National Observatory, the Multiple Mirror Observatory, and the Very Large Array. We acknowledge useful discussions with G. Ferland, P. J. E. Peebles, G. A. Shields, J. Silk, S. D. M. White, and D. C. Koo. We also thank R. Windhorst and D. C. Koo for the 5 m images discussed in the text. H. S. and P. McC. acknowledge support from NSF grant AST 85-13416, M. A. S. acknowledges support from an NSF graduate fellowship, W. v. B. acknowledges support from NSF grant AST 84-16177, and S. D. acknowledges partial support from Harvard University.

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August 19, 2023
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