AAS 201st Meeting, January, 2003
Session 48. Blazars and AGNs
Poster, Tuesday, January 7, 2003, 9:20am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall AB

[48.21] An XMM-Newton Observation of the Bright Seyfert 2 Galaxy NGC 6300

L.A. Maddox, K.M. Leighly, A. Nava, C. Matsumoto (University of Oklahoma), D. Grupe (Ohio State University)

We present preliminary results from an \emph{XMM-Newton} observation of the bright, nearby (18 Mpc) Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 6300. We observe diffuse soft (0.1--2 keV) X-ray emission extended on a scale of ~2 arcmin, corresponding to the scale of the host ring galaxy. Two soft X-ray sources within 80 arcseconds of the nucleus were found; if associated with the galaxy, their 0.2--10 keV luminosity is 1--5\times 1039\rm \,erg\,s-1. They may be ultraluminous compact X-ray sources, similar to those discovered in other nearby galaxies. The fainter of the two objects seems to correspond to a source of UV emission observed by the \emph{XMM-Newton} optical monitor. The X-ray spectrum of the active nucleus is a rather typical one for a Compton-thin Seyfert 2 galaxy. It consists of a heavily absorbed, strongly-variable hard component dominating the 3--10 keV band, and a soft component dominating the 0.2--1.7 keV band. In the 3--10 keV band, the spectrum is well fitted by a power-law model (\Gamma3-10keV ~q 1.9) seen through a Compton-thin (NH ~q 2.1 \times 1023\,\rm cm-2) absorber. We confirm the presence of a K{\sc \alpha} fluorescence neutral iron line with a centroid at EFe = 6.42 keV and an equivalent width EWFe ~q 150 ±20 eV. The iron line may be marginally resolved. The observed flux in the 2--10 keV band is F ~q 7 \times 10-12\,\rm ergs\, cm-2 s-1, comparable to the flux observed by \emph{BeppoSAX} two years earlier. The spectrum in the 0.2--1.7 keV band is well fitted by a power-law (\Gamma0.2-1.7 keV ~q 1.9), attenuated only by the gas in our Galaxy.

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.