NGC 6212 - an X-ray-selected active elliptical galaxy

Optical observations of the elliptical galaxy NGC 6212 show it to be a type 1 Seyfert galaxy at z = 0.030, not a BL Lac object as suggested by Biermann, Strom, and Bartel (1985). The X-ray luminosity in the 0.3 - 3.5 keV band varies between 2x10<SUP>42</SUP> and 8x10<SUP>42</SUP>erg s<SUP>-1</SUP> over a period of months. One purpose of this paper is to emphasize that the X-ray variability and relatively weak radio emission of NGC 6212 are not unusual for Seyfert galaxies. In the absence of optical spectroscopy, the a priori probability that an object with the X-ray and radio properties of NGC 6212 will turn out to be a BL Lac object is much smaller than the probability that it will be a Seyfert galaxy.