Hubble Space TelescopeUltraviolet Spectroscopy of 14 Low-Redshift Quasars

We present low-resolution ultraviolet spectra of 14 low redshift (z<0.8)quasars observed with HST/STIS as part of a Snap project to understand therelationship between quasar outflows and luminosity. By design, allobservations cover the CIV emission line. Nine of the quasars are from theHamburg-ESO catalog, three are from the Palomar-Green catalog, and one is fromthe Parkes catalog. The sample contains a few interesting quasars including twobroad absorption line (BAL) quasars (HE0143-3535, HE0436-2614), one quasar witha mini-BAL (HE1105-0746), and one quasar with associated narrow absorption(HE0409-5004). These BAL quasars are among the brightest known (though not themost luminous) since they lie at z<0.8. We compare the properties of these BALquasars to the z<0.5 Palomar-Green and z>1.4 Large Bright Quasar samples. Bydesign, our objects sample luminosities in between these two surveys, and ourfour absorbed objects are consistent with the v ~ L^0.62 relation derived byLaor & Brandt (2002). Another quasar, HE0441-2826, contains extremely weakemission lines and our spectrum is consistent with a simple power-lawcontinuum. The quasar is radio-loud, but has a steep spectral index and alobe-dominated morphology, which argues against it being a blazar. The unusualspectrum of this quasar resembles the spectra of the quasars PG1407+265,SDSSJ1136+0242, and PKS1004+13 for which several possible explanations havebeen entertained.Comment: Uses aastex.cls, 21 pages in preprint mode, including 6 figures and 2 tables; accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal (projected vol 133