Aims: To elucidate the location, physical conditions, mass outflow rate, and kinetic luminosity of the outflow from the active nucleus of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 509, we used coordinated UV and X-ray spectral observations in 2012 to follow up our lengthier campaign conducted in 2009.
Methods: We observed Mrk 509 with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on 2012-09-03 and 2012-10-11 coordinated with X-ray observations using the High Energy Transmission Grating on the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Our far-ultraviolet spectra used grating G140L on COS to cover wavelengths from 920-2000 Å at a resolving power of ∼2000, and gratings G130M and G160M to cover 1160-1750 Å at a resolving power of ∼15, 000.
Results: We detect variability in the blueshifted UV absorption lines on timescales spanning 3-12 years. The inferred densities in the absorbing gas are greater than log n cm-3 ∼ 3. For ionization parameters ranging over log U = -1.5 to -0.2, we constrain the distances of the absorbers to be closer than 220 pc to the active nucleus.
Conclusions: The impact on the host galaxy appears to be confined to the nuclear region.
