Observations of 3C 390.3 with the International Ultraviolet Explorer.
Abstract
Observations of the radio galaxy 3C 390.3 made with IUE are presented; these allow separate determinations of the Lyman/Balmer ratios in both the narrow and broad emission-line regions. The broad-line L-alpha/H-alpha ratio confirms the anomalous results found previously in quasars; in this case a ratio is found about 15 times smaller than that predicted by simple recombination models. By contrast, the L-alpha/H-alpha ratio found for the lower-density narrow-line region is nearly normal. It is argued that the broad-line spectrum can be interpreted in terms of collisional processes at high densities (electron densities of 10 billion to 25 billion per cu cm).
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- June 1979
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/187.1.65P
- Bibcode:
- 1979MNRAS.187P..65F
- Keywords:
-
- Astronomical Spectroscopy;
- Line Spectra;
- Radio Galaxies;
- Satellite Observation;
- Balmer Series;
- Electron Density (Concentration);
- Emission Spectra;
- Iue;
- Lyman Alpha Radiation;
- Astrophysics;
- Radio Galaxies:UV Spectra