A&A 464, 541–552 (2007) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20065454 & c ESO 2007 Astrophysics The morphology of minor axis gaseous outflows in edge-on Seyfert galaxies, T. P. Robitaille1,, J. Rossa2,3,D.J.Bomans4,andR.P.vanderMarel2 1 SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, KY16 9SS St. Andrews, UK e-mail:
[email protected] 2 Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA e-mail:
[email protected] 3 Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, 211 Bryant Space Science Center, PO Box 112055, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA e-mail:
[email protected] 4 Astronomisches Institut, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150/NA7, 44780 Bochum, Germany e-mail:
[email protected] Received 18 April 2006 / Accepted 20 December 2006 ABSTRACT Context. Spiral galaxies often have extended outflows that permeate beyond the region of the disk. Such outflows have been seen both in starburst galaxies, actively star forming galaxies and galaxies with an AGN. In the latter galaxies it is unknown whether the large-scale outflows are driven by star formation activity or purely by the active nucleus. Aims. The aim of our investigation is to study the frequency of extended minor-axis outflows in edge-on Seyfert galaxies to investigate the role of the AGN, the circumnuclear environment and star formation activity within the disk regions, and their importance for IGM enrichment on large scales. Methods. We obtained optical narrowband imaging observations of a distance limited, northern hemisphere sample of 14 edge-on Seyfert spiral galaxies.