HST/COS Probes the Starburst Wind of NGC 2611

We present moderate-resolution Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) far-UV spectra of the QSO PG 0832+251, which probes the starburst galaxy NGC 2611 (z = 0.0175) along its minor axis at a distance of 2.5 arcmin (54 kpc in projection). An 11-ksec FUSE spectrum of PG 0832+251 revealed Lyβ and O VI absorption associated with NGC 2611; our COS G130M and G160M spectra span the wavelength range 1136-1797 Å with a spectral resolution of 18,000 and cover low- (H I, O I, N I, C II, Si II, Fe II, S II, Al II) and intermediate-ions (Si III/IV, C IV, N V) associated with NGC 2611. Probing starburst winds at appreciable distances along the galaxy's minor axis is the most straightforward way of determining whether gas entrained in the wind will escape the galaxy's gravitational potential to enrich the intergalactic medium, since absorption-line studies which use the starburst continuum itself as a background source suffer from large ambiguities in the location of the absorbing gas. However, the interpretation of the absorption lines in the PG 0832+251 spectrum are complicated by the presence of a small galaxy group, of which NGC 2611 is the largest member.