Abstract
The bright compact radio source PKS1345+125 (4C 12.50) has been optically identified with a magnitude 17 galaxy with a redshift z=0.122 (refs 1, 2) and an unusual spectrum3. Here we show it to be an elliptical galaxy with a compact radio source coincident with its optically undistinguished nucleus. An unresolved radio-quiet Seyfert nucleus with the same redshift as the elliptical galaxy is offset by 1.8 arc s from the radio source. The Seyfert nucleus is remarkable for its location in an elliptical galaxy, for its extreme far-infrared flux, and for the very low density in the broad-line region. We present a model of 1345+125 involving the dynamical merger of an elliptical galaxy with a spiral. The merger has stripped the spiral galaxy of its interstellar gas, fuelling the nuclear engines in both galaxies, and allowing the broad-line region to stream out freely. The elliptical has acquired an envelope, and is becoming a radio-loud cD galaxy.
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Gilmore, G., Shaw, M. PKS1345+125:a Seyfert nucleus merging with a powerful radio galaxy. Nature 321, 750–753 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/321750a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/321750a0
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