A New Superwind Wolf-Rayet Galaxy Markarian 1259

We report the discovery of a starburst-driven wind (superwind) from the starburst nucleus galaxy Mrk 1259. The estimated number ratio of Wolf-Rayet (WR) to O stars amounts to ≃0.09. While the nuclear emission-line region is due to the usual photoionization by massive stars, the circumnuclear emission-line regions show anomalous line ratios that can be due to cooling shocks. Since the host galaxy seems to be a face-on disk galaxy and the excitation conditions of the circumnuclear emission-line regions show spatial symmetry, we consider that we are seeing the superwind nearly from a pole-on view. Cooling shock models may explain the observed emission-line ratios of the circumnuclear regions, although a factor of 2 overabundance of nitrogen is necessary. All these suggest that the high-mass-enhanced starburst occurred ~5 × 106 yr ago in the nuclear region of Mrk 1259.