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Letters to Nature
Nature 305, 407-409 (29 September 1983) | doi:10.1038/305407a0; Accepted 27 May 1983
Broad emission lines of QSOs are consistent with rotating supermassive stars
G. A. Shields
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712, USA
Abstract
Quasars and Seyfert galaxies typically have optical and UV spectra characterized by a largely nonthermal continuum, narrow emission lines, and broad emission lines (full widths at zero intensity 
104 km s-1) observed only in permitted and inter-combination transitions. The broad lines come from a small amount of dense, fast-moving gas, in a region 1018 cm across near the continuum source1. The origin, geometry, and dynamics of the broad line gas are uncertain. I suggest here that the basic properties of the broad emission-line profiles are consistent with emission from the surface of a rotating, super-massive star.
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