WFPC2 Observations of the Cooling Flow Elliptical in Abell 1795

We present WFPC2 images of the core of the cooling flow cD galaxy in Abell 1795. An irregular, asymmetric dust lane extends 7 h−175 kpc in projection to the north-northwest. The dust shares the morphology observed in the Hα and excess UV emission. We see both diffuse and knotty blue emission around the dust lane, especially at the ends. The dust and emission features lie on the edge of the radio lobes, suggesting star formation induced by the radio source or the deflection of the radio jets off of preexisting dust and gas. We measure an apparent RV significantly less than 3.1, implying that the extinction law is not Galactic in the dust lane, or the presence of line emission that is proportional to the extinction. The dust mass is at least 2 × 105 h75−2 M☉ and is more likely to be 6.5 × 105 h75−2 M☉.