We present a detailed analysis of the rest-frame UV and optical emission-line spectrum of the partially obscured quasar J121704.70+023417.1 (hereafter J1217+0234). Here the obscuring material, very likely the dusty torus invoked by the AGN unification models, acts as a natural coronagraph, which greatly suppresses both the continuum and broad-line emission in the UV and enables a clear detection of three emission-line components at and beyond the dusty torus scale: (1) The component, with a blueshift of v ≈ 1200 km s−1 and a line width of FWHM ≈ 2600 km s−1, shows exceptionally large intensity ratios, such as N v/Lyα ≈ 2.3 and O vi/Lyα ≈ 1.4, indicating that the emitting gas is highly ionized and has a very high density up to n H ∼ 1013 cm−3, possibly associated with the dusty torus. (2) The largely unshifted narrow-line component, with FWHM ≈ 510 km s−1, is completely absent in all UV lines but Lyα and is significantly detected in the forbidden lines of [O iii], [O ii], and [Ne iii] in the optical, implying massive low-density (n H ∼ 102 cm−3) gas ∼40 kpc from the galactic center. (3) The intermediate component is only detected in [O iii] with a blueshift and line width between (1) and (2), which might bridge the gases from the circumnuclear to the circumgalactic scales. Follow-up observations with high spatial resolution and high sensitivity are needed to confirm the speculation and are helpful to reveal outflows at multiscales in J1217+0234.

We present a broadband spectrophotometric analysis of an unusual quasar, SDSS J160558.86+474300.1, at z = 0.9, found in a systematic search for reddened radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s). J1605+4743 qualifies for the conventional definition of an NLS1 in its permitted emission line widths and Hβ/[O iii] flux ratio. It also shows strong Fe ii emissions. J1605+4743 has a steep radio spectrum. With a radio loudness of ∼150 (70) before (after) reddening correction, it is among the most radio-loud NLS1s discovered. In addition, the blueshifted emission lines are also found to be weak, suggesting that it can be an exotic “wind-dominated” Seyfert similar to weak-line quasars, especially the ones with strong reddening. As an extreme hybrid central engine, its environment and host galaxy become rather intriguing. We discover in it a proximate 2175 Å absorber with a bump strength similar to the average value of 2175 Å absorbers in the Milky Way, which we suspect can be intrinsic to the quasar. In addition, the quasar seems to have enhanced instead of suppressed star formation at a rate of ≳94 M ⊙ yr−1. The combination of these unusual properties, i.e., the unique extinction, strong Fe ii and [O ii] lines, weak [O iii], Mg ii, and Balmer lines, and large radio loudness, might hold important clues to accretion physics, the formation/destruction of dust grains in the environment of active galactic nuclei, and possibly also the coevolution of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies in general.

We present a detailed analysis of the broad absorption line system in the quasar SDSS J122017.06+454941.1, which are clearly detected in hydrogen Lyman series and metal lines, such as C iv, Si iv, Si iii, Al iii, and C ii, with a similar velocity as that of the broad emission lines. We reliably measured the column densities of H i, Al iii, and C ii, and obtained a low limit to Si iv and Si iii. With the help of the photoionization simulations, we found that the absorption gas has a hydrogen number density n H ≈ 1011.03 cm−3 and a hydrogen column density N H ≈ 1021.0 cm−2, and is exposed to the radiation with an ionization parameter U ≈ 10−1.25, and thus located the absorber at ∼0.3 pc from the central supermassive black hole, remarkably similar to the radius of the broad-line region (BLR; 0.17–0.84 pc as estimated by the luminosity–radius relation) of the quasar. It is likely that our line of sight may happen to intercept the low-column part of the BLR with a high density similar to that of the inferred value of the absorber. We suggest that detection of Al iii absorption line doublet in moderate quality quasar spectra could be a good indicator of dense gases, provided that the neutral hydrogen column density of the absorber is .