BibSonomy
CiteUlike
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Mendeley
TwitterA&A 395, 17-23 (2002)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20021213
HE 0435-1223: A wide separation quadruple QSO and gravitational lens
L. Wisotzki1, P. L. Schechter2, 3, H. V. Bradt2, J. Heinmüller1 and D. Reimers41 Universität Potsdam, Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469 Potsdam, Germany
2 Dept. of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
3 Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
4 Hamburger Sternwarte, Universität Hamburg, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
(Received 3 July 2002 / Accepted 19 August 2002)
Abstract
We report the discovery of a new gravitationally lensed QSO,
at a redshift
z = 1.689,
with four QSO components in a cross-shaped arrangement around a bright galaxy.
The maximum separation between images is
, enabling a
reliable decomposition of the system. Three of the QSO components
have
, while component A is about 0.6 mag brighter.
The four components have nearly identical colours, suggesting little
if any dust extinction in the foreground galaxy. The lensing galaxy
is prominent in the
i band, weaker in
r and not detected in
g.
Its spatial profile is that of an elliptical galaxy with a scale length
of ~
12 kpc. Combining the measured colours and a mass model
for the lens, we estimate a most likely redshift range of
0.3 < z < 0.4.
Predicted time delays between the components are
10 days.
The QSO shows evidence for variability, with total
g band
magnitudes of 17.89 and 17.71 for two epochs separated by ~
2 months.
However, the relative fluxes of the components did not change,
indicating that the variations are intrinsic to the QSO rather than
induced by microlensing.
Key words: quasars: individual: HE 0435-1223 -- quasars: general -- gravitational lensing
Offprint request: L. Wisotzki, lutz@astro.physik.uni-potsdam.de
SIMBAD Objects
© ESO 2002