The spectral energy distribution of NGC 1275

An analysis of absolute spectral energy distributions for NGC 1275 (Per A) covering the wavelength interval from 3300 A to 10,800 A is presented. The data are consistent with the heavy reddening discovered by Wampler (1971). The H-alpha intensity varied by less than 10% between the times of Wampler's earlier measurements and the two occasions of the present observations. The line-emitting region has a characteristic density of about 10 to the 4.5 power per cu cm, a mass of about 10 to the 5.5 power solar masses, and a volume filling factor of about 10 to the -6th power. The gas may be ionized by shock waves or by nonthermal or stellar radiation. It is suggested, in the vein of Minkowski's (1957) original proposal, that the high-velocity emission-line knots described by Minkowski are H II regions in a Perseus-cluster galaxy or intergalactic gas cloud seen in projection against NGC 1275.