DETECTION OF EXTENDED H I ABSORPTION TOWARD PKS-2322-123 IN ABELL-2597

We have detected H I in absorption toward the bright radio source PKS 2322-123 associated with the central cD galaxy in the rich cluster A2597. We detect a ''narrow'' velocity width component towards the nucleus which is spatially unresolved and redshifted by similar to 200-300 km s(-1) from the systemic velocity. We suggest that this component may be associated with ongoing cannibalism in the cD galaxy. We also detect a ''broad'' velocity width component which is spatially extended on the scale of the 3'' radio source and which is at the systemic velocity. We suggest that this component is associated with the bright H alpha nebula. Our derived parameters suggest that there is much more mass in the H I than in the H alpha implying that the nebula is photon bounded. The basic observational parameters of the broad component, (e.g., systemic velocity, low optical depth, broad line width) are very similar to the absorption found in NGC 1275 (3C 84) in the Perseus cluster. We do not detect the absorption in our very high velocity resolution data (1.5 km s(-1)). This suggests that the H I absorption features detected in the lower resolution data are not composed of an instrumental blend and dilution of several very deep and very narrow absorption lines. Instead the broad line width and low apparent optical depth of the detected H I are apparently due to an intrinsic distribution of velocities in a population of clouds with either low covering factor c(f) < 0.05 or low optical depth tau < 0.05.