Spectrophotometry of the galaxies and nebulosity associated with the quasar III ZW 2

Abstract

Results are presented for spectrophotometry of the object III Zw 2, the faint nebulosity to the NW of its nucleus, and two associated galaxies (a normal elliptical and a more luminous late-type spiral). The object III Zw 2 is defined to be a quasar on the basis of its dominant starlike nucleus, redshift, and optical and radio variability. The spectrophotometrically measured redshifts of the two associated galaxies are shown to place III Zw 2 as a member of Zwicky Cluster 0007.7+1056, thus establishing the cosmological origin of the quasar's emission-line redshift of 0.089. It is found that the nebulosity to the NW of the quasar exhibits an emission-line spectrum at the same redshift as the nucleus with an underlying red continuum, that the strength of the forbidden lines relative to the permitted lines is 3 to 4 times greater than in the nucleus, and that the data for the nebulosity are not well fitted by a bremsstrahlung emission spectrum, but are consistent with a spectrum of starlight from an underlying galaxy at the system redshift of 0.089.