High Resolution Spectroscopy of NGC 1399 at the Core of the Fornax Cluster

We propose to obtain a high resolution spectrum of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1399 at the core of the Fornax Cluster. The RGS will fully resolve the soft Xray emission line spectrum of the hot diffuse gas inthe galaxy. The properties of the hot gas can be determined without the usual ambiguities; spatial gradients will be constrained with the crossdispersion image. We will likely detect the effect of resonance scattering on the spatial profile of the strongest Fe L emission line, which allows for a very powerful internal consistency test on our measurement of temperature, density, and abundances. It will also provide a strong constraint on the amplitude of the velocity field in the diffuse gas. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]