Suzaku observation of the Phoenix galaxy

Abstract

Context. In recent years, several Seyfert 2 galaxies have been discovered that change state when observed in X-rays a few years apart, switching from Compton-thin to reflection-dominated or viceversa.Aims. We observed a member of this class of "Changing-look" sources, the Phoenix galaxy, with < spectrum was analyzed, and the results compared with previous ASCA and XMM-< observations. Results. The source was caught in a Compton-thin state, as in XMM- < and XMM-< observations, a variation in the column density of the absorber on a time scale of years is discovered. A similar change, but on much shorter time scales (i.e. ks) may also explain the count-rate variations during the < observations. A soft excess is also present, likely due to continuum and line emission from photoionized circumnuclear matter.. © 2009 ESO.