4U 1344-60: a bright intermediate Seyfert galaxy
at z = 0.012 with a relativistic Fe K
emission line
1
Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma (INAF), via Frascati 33, 00040 Monteporzio Catone, Italy e-mail: piconcelli@mporzio.astro.it
2
European Space Astronomy Center (ESA), Apartado 50727, 28080 Madrid, Spain
3
Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, rue de l'Université 11, 67000 Strasbourg, France
4
Centre d'Étude Spatiale des Rayonnements, Avenue du Colonel Roche, BP 4346, 31028 Toulouse, France
5
Department of Physics & Astronomy (University of Leicester), University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
6
Dipartimento di Fisica (Università degli Studi Roma Tre), via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
Received:
2
February
2006
Accepted:
9
March
2006
We present analysis of the optical and X-ray spectra of
the low Galactic latitude bright (F2-10 = 3.6 
10-11 erg cm-2 s-1) source 4U 1344-60.
On the basis of the optical data
we propose to classify 4U 1344-60 as an intermediate type Seyfert galaxy and
we measure a value of 
for its redshift.
From the XMM-Newton observation we find that the overall X-ray
spectral shape of 4U 1344-60 is complex and can be described
by a power-law continuum (
) obscured by two
neutral absorption components (
~ 1022 cm-2 and
~ 
cm-2), the latter covering only the ~50% of the primary X-ray source.
The X-ray data therefore lend support to our classification of 4U 1344-60. It
exhibits a broad and skewed Fe Kα line at ~6.4 keV,
which suggests the existence of an
accretion disk that is able to reprocess the primary continuum down to
a few gravitational radii. Such a line represents one of the clearest
examples of a relativistic line observed by XMM-Newton so far.
Our analysis has also revealed the marginal presence of two narrow line-like emission
features at ~4.9 and ~5.2 keV.
Key words: galaxies: active / galaxies: individual: 4U 1344-60 / X-ray: galaxies
© ESO, 2006