Abstract
THE quasar-galaxy pair 3C232 and NGC3067 was the first in which Ca II absorption was found in the higher redshift spectrum of the quasar at the lower redshift of the galaxy1. This has been taken as evidence that quasar absorption lines are due to gas associated with extended disks or spherical haloes of galaxies distributed along the line of sight2. Implicit in this is the assumption that redshifts are cosmological. We present new observations of neutral hydrogen at the redshift of NGC3067, both in emission and absorption against the radio-loud quasar. The hydrogen forms a long tail, apparently extending from the galaxy to the quasar and beyond, which seems to be a disturbed extension of one of the galaxy's spiral arms. No companion to NGC3067, which might cause such a disturbance, can be seen. The extended gas distribution, mapped here for the first time in such a system, conforms neither to the extended disk, nor to the spherical halo model. We suggest that most low redshift absorption line systems arise in extended gas associated with interacting galaxies unless, of course, our line-of-sight passes through the optical disk of the associated galaxy.
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Carilli, C., van Gorkom, J. & Stocke, J. Disturbed neutral hydrogen in the galaxy NGC3067 pointing to the quasar 3C232. Nature 338, 134–136 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/338134a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/338134a0
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