SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY OF THE CFA SAMPLE OF SEYFERT-GALAXIES

High signal-to-noise ratio spectra were obtained of nearly all the Seyfert 2 galaxies in the CfA complete sample published by Huchra & Burg, and of some of the Seyfert 1's as well. Several of the Seyfert 2 galaxies have weak, broad components to their Halpha emission lines, and in some cases to Hbeta as well, and thus are Seyfert 1.8 or 1.9 objects on the Lick Observatory classfication system. Luminosity functions and mean absolute magnitudes were calculated separately for each type and for various groupings of the types. Our spectra confirm Huchra & Burg's conclusion that the CfA sample contains a higher fraction of Seyfert 1's than the Wasilewski sample, which therefore appears to be deficient in faint, reddened Seyfert 1 galaxies. Specific geometrical models and evolutionary pictures of AGNs are discussed. All the Seyfert 1.8, 1.9, and 2 galaxy spectra were measured spectrophotometrically, and all, when plotted in diagnostic diagrams, lie in the AGN regions except for two objects barely outside the region on one diagram. These good signal-to-noise ratio spectra confirm that, as suspected earlier, many Seyfert 1.8, 1.9, and 2 galaxies have weak [Fe x]lambda6735 emission in their spectra. The broad components of the Seyfert 1.8 and 1.9 galaxies have large Halpha/Hbeta intensity ratios, extending previous similar results.