Extended ionized-gas structures in seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 78

Abstract

The search and study of extended emission-line regions (EELRs) related to AGN in early-type galaxies is interesting to probe the history of nuclear ionization activity and also to understand the process of external gas accretion. In this work, we present observations of the EELR in Mrk 78 obtained at the 6-m Russian telescope using the long-slit and 3D spectroscopy methods. We show that ionized-gas clouds at 12-16 kpc projected distances from the nucleus are ionized by the AGN radiation. Also we have checked if the galaxy appearing in the optical images in the immediate neighbourhood of Mrk 78 near the external clouds is a dwarf companion or a part of a tidal structure. However, the spectrum of this galaxy, SDSS J074240.37+651021.4, obtained at the 6-m telescope corresponds to a distant background galaxy with z = 0.38. © 2020, Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences.