The Z = 0.8596 damped Ly-alpha absorbing galaxy toward PKS 0454+039

Abstract

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and ground-based data on the Z(sub abs) = 0.8596 metal-line absorption system along the line of sight to PKS 0454+0356. The system is a moderate-redshift damped Ly-alpha system, with N(H I) = (5.7 +/- 0.3) x 10(exp 20)/sq cm as measured from the Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) spectrum. We also present ground-based images which we use to identify the galaxy which most probably gives rise to the damped system; the most likely candidate is relatively underluminous by QSO absorber standards M(sub B) approximately -19.0 for A(sub 0) = 0.5 and H(sub 0) = 50 km/s/Mpc) and lies approximately 8.5/h kpc in projection from the QSO sight line. Ground-based measurements of Zn II, Cr II, and Fe II absorption lines from this system allow us to infer abundances of (Zn/H) = -1.1, (Cr/H) = -1.2, and (Fe/H) = -1.2 indicating overall metallicity similar to damped systems at z is greater than 2, and that the depletion of Cr and Fe onto dust grains may be even less important than in many of the high-redshift systems of comparable metallicity. Limits previously placed on the 21 cm optical depth in the z = 0.8596 system, together with our new N(H I) measurement, suggest a very high spin temperature for the H I, T(sub s) is greater than 580 K.