THE [O III] NEBULA OF THE MERGER REMNANT NGC 7252: A LIKELY FAINT IONIZATION ECHO

We present images and spectra of a ∼10 kpc-sized emission-line nebulosity discovered in the prototypical merger remnant NGC 7252 and dubbed the ''[O III] nebula'' because of its dominant [O III] λ5007 line. This nebula seems to yield the first sign of episodic active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity still occurring in the remnant, ∼220 Myr after the coalescence of two gas-rich galaxies. Its location and kinematics suggest it belongs to a stream of tidal-tail gas falling back into the remnant. Its integrated [O III] λ5007 luminosity is 1.4 × 1040 erg s–1, and its spectrum features some high-excitation lines, including He II λ4686. In diagnostic line-ratio diagrams, the nebula lies in the domain of Seyfert galaxies, suggesting that it is photoionized by a source with a power-law spectrum. Yet, a search for AGN activity in NGC 7252 from X-rays to radio wavelengths yields no detection, with the most stringent upper limit set by X-ray observations. The upper luminosity limit of L2-10keV,0<5×1039 erg s–1 estimated for the nucleus is ∼103 times lower than the minimum ionizing luminosity of ∼> 5 × 1042 erg s–1 necessary to excite the nebula. This large discrepancy suggests that the nebula is a faint ionization echo excited by a mildly active nucleus that has declined by ∼3 orders of magnitude over the past 20,000-200,000 yr. In many ways this nebula resembles the prototypical ''Hanny's Voorwerp'' near IC 2497, but its size is 3× smaller and its [O III] luminosity ∼100× lower. We propose that it be classified as an extended emission-line region (EELR). The [O III] nebula is then the lowest-luminosity ionization echo and EELR discovered so far, indicative of recent, probably sputtering AGN activity of Seyfert-like intensity in NGC 7252