Spatially resolved ultraviolet spectroscopy of the LINER galaxy NGC 3998

Results of recent IUE observations of the LINER galaxy NGC 3998 are reported. Spatial structure in the LW emission is apparent; the spatial profiles in the longwave primary (LWP) images show a two-component structure, with an unresolved central component superposed on extended underlying emission. New software, which exploits a knowledge of the LWP point spread function and its variation with wavelength, is used to model the spatial profiles and to separate the LWP emission into component spectra. The unresolved component spectrum is found to be considerably flatter than the spectrum of the extended component, which is dominated by fairly late-type stars. The unresolved component exhibits strong semiforbidden C II 2326 and broad Mg II 2800 emission. The width of the Mg II emission is about 8000 km/s, and its profile agrees quite well with the broad wings of the H-alpha emission.