Spectroscopy of the nebulosity around eight high-luminosity QSOs

Abstract

Spectra between 5000 and 9500 A have been obtained for the nebulosities around eight QSOs. These QSOs are all radio sources and were chosen for their high optical luminosities. The spectra of the nebulosities show either blue continua and strong emission lines, or red continua with weak or no emission lines. It is suggested that all the continua arise from stars, although only one object, 3C 48, shows definite stellar absorption lines. Those objects showing strong emission lines require several times 100 million solar masses of gas within the underlying galaxy. The separation into the two groups correlates with many other properties of the QSOs, including radio morphology and spectral index, Fe II emission, and Balmer line width.