We present far-UV spectroscopy of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1399 , obtained with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer .
Of all quiescent ellipticals , NGC 1399 has the strongest known ‘ ‘ UV upturn ’ ’ – a sharp spectral rise shortward of 2500 Å .
It is now well-established that this emission comes from hot horizontal branch ( HB ) stars and their progeny ; however , the chemical composition of these stars has been the subject of a long-standing debate .
For the first time in observations of any elliptical galaxy , our spectra clearly show photospheric metallic absorption lines within the UV upturn .
The abundance of N is at 45 % solar , Si is at 13 % solar , and C is at 2 % solar .
Such abundance anomalies are a natural consequence of gravitational diffusion .
These photospheric abundances fall in the range observed for subdwarf B stars of the Galactic field .

Although NGC 1399 is at the center of the Fornax cluster , we find no evidence for O vi cooling flow emission .
The upper limit to \lambda \lambda 1032 , 1038 emission is 3.9 \times 10 ^ { -15 } erg s ^ { -1 } cm ^ { -2 } , equivalent to 0.14 M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } , and less than that predicted by simple cooling flow models of the NGC 1399 X-ray luminosity .