Letter to the Editor
Direct determination of quasar redshifts
1
Astrophysics Division, European Space Agency, ESTEC, Postbus 299, 2200AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
2
Sterrewacht Leiden, Postbus 9513, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands
3
Hamburger Sternwarte, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
Corresponding author: J. H. J. de Bruijne, Jos.de.Bruijne@esa.int
Received:
2
November
2001
Accepted:
26
November
2001
We present observations of 11 quasars, selected in the range 
–4.1, obtained with ESA's Superconducting Tunnel
Junction (STJ) camera on the WHT. Using a single template QSO
spectrum, we show that we can determine the redshifts of these objects
to about 1%. A follow-up spectroscopic observation of one QSO for
which our best-fit redshift (
) differs significantly from
the tentative literature value (
) confirms that the
latter was incorrect.
Key words: instrumentation: detectors / galaxies: distances and redshifts / galaxies: high-redshift / quasars: absorption lines / quasars: emission lines / quasars: general
© ESO, 2002