Seyfert galaxy narrow-line regions. I - Observations of forbidden O III lambda 5007

High-resolution (23 km/s) spectra of the forbidden O III emission line at 500.7 nm from the nuclear regions of 32 Seyfert galaxies and low-redshift QSOs have been obtained at the Smithsonian Institution/University of Arizona Multiple Mirror Telescope. The properties of the data are summarized by a group of measures which efficiently describe the entire line profiles, are stable in the presence of noise, and have easily visualized geometric meaning. The distributions of line profile measures are shown. In particular, typical forbidden O III FWHM values of 200-520 km/s (mean + or - 1 sigma) and a highly significant tendency for the lines to fall off more slowly on the blue than on the red side of the peak have been found, in agreement with previous work. Using galaxian system velocities obtained from absorption-line measurements, the distribution of differences between forbidden O III emission-line velocities and galaxian system velocities has been determined; in disagreement with previous work, this distribution has been found to be consistent with symmetry about zero difference velocity.