PKS 2349$-$014: A LUMINOUS QUASAR WITH THIN WISPS, A LARGE OFF-CENTER NEBULOSITY, AND A CLOSE COMPANION GALAXY

Abstract

HST images (WFC2) of \pks show that this luminous nearby quasar is interacting with diffuse (presumably galactic) material. Two thin wisps that have a total extent of about 20 kpc (for $H_0 = 100$ \kms ${\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ and $Ω_0 = 1.0$) are observed to approximately surround the quasar. One of the wisps appears to pass through a companion galaxy that is located at a projected distance of three~kpc from the center of the quasar light. The companion galaxy, if located at the distance of \pks, has an intrinsic size and luminosity similar to the Large Magellanic Cloud. A faint extended nebulosity, which is detected over a region of 35 kpc by 50 kpc and is centered about 5 kpc from the quasar nucleus, overlaps the wisps. The immediate environment of \pks is different from the enivronments of the other eight luminous quasars that we have studied previously with HST. If the multiple light components of the HST images are fit to a single de~Vaucouleurs profile, as was done in previous analyses of ground--based data, then the result obtained for the total luminosity of the model galaxy is in agreement with the earlier ground-based studies.