Evidence for a Black Hole and Accretion Disk in the LINER NGC 4203.

We present spectroscopic observations from the Hubble Space Telescope that reveal for the first time the presence of a broad pedestal of Balmer line emission in the LINER galaxy NGC 4203. The emission-line profile is suggestive of a relativistic accretion disk and is reminiscent of double-peaked transient Balmer emission observed in a handful of other LINERs. The very broad line emission thus constitutes clear qualitative evidence for a black hole, and spatially resolved narrow-line emission in NGC 4203 can be used to constrain its mass, MBH

Thomson Thick X-Ray Absorption in a Broad Absorption Line Quasar, PG 0946+301.

We present a deep ASCA observation of a broad absorption line quasar (BALQSO) PG 0946+301. The source was clearly detected in one of the gas imaging spectrometers, but not in any other detector. If BALQSOs have intrinsic X-ray spectra similar to normal radio-quiet quasars, our observations imply that there is Thomson thick X-ray absorption (NH greater, similar1024 cm-2) toward PG 0946+301. This is the largest column density estimated so far toward a BALQSO. The absorber must be at least partially ionized and may be responsible for attenuation in the optical and UV. If the Thomson optical depth toward BALQSOs is close to 1, as inferred here, then spectroscopy in hard X-rays with large telescopes like XMM would be feasible.