Serendipitous discovery of an optical emission line jet in NGC\,232
arXiv:1711.02785 · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa98db
Abstract
We report the detection of a highly collimated linear emission-line structure in the spiral galaxy NGC\,232 through the use of integral field spectroscopy data from the All-weather MUse Supernova Integral field Nearby Galaxies (AMUSING) survey. This jet--like feature extends radially from the nucleus and is primarily detected in [oiii]5007 without clear evidence of an optical continuum counterpart. The length of the radial structure projected on sky reaches kpc, which makes NGC\,232 the second longest emission-line jet reported. The ionized gas presents extreme [Oiii]/H and [Nii]/H line ratios, increasing along the jet-like structure. We discuss three possible scenarios to explain the observed structure: (i) direct ionization of in-falling material from the intergalactic medium by the AGN; (ii) photo-ionization by an un-detected optical counter-part of the radio jet and (iii) fast shocks ionization due to the lateral expansion of the radio jet across the ISM. Our analysis favors in-situ ionization.
7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publishing in ApJL
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