We present the spectral results from a 130 ks observation, obtained from the
X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission-Newton (XMM-Newton) observatory, of the type I
Seyfert galaxy Fairall 9. An X-ray hardness-ratio analysis of the light-curves,
reveals a `softer-when-brighter' behaviour which is typical for radio-quiet
type I Seyfert galaxies. Moreover, we analyse the high spectral-resolution data
of the reflection grating spectrometer and we did not find any significant
evidence supporting the presence of warm-absorber in the low X-ray energy part
of the source's spectrum. This means that the central nucleus of Fairall 9 is
`clean' and thus its X-ray spectral properties probe directly the physical
conditions of the central engine. The overall X-ray spectrum in the 0.5-10 keV
energy-range, derived from the EPIC data, can be modelled by a relativistically
blurred disc-reflection model. This spectral model yields for Fairall 9 an
intermediate black-hole best-fit spin parameter of
α=0.39−0.30+0.48.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. The paper contains 11 figures and
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