THE MAGELLANIC QUASARS SURVEY. III. SPECTROSCOPIC CONFIRMATION OF 758 ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI BEHIND THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS
- Warsaw University Observatory, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa (Poland)
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Australian National University, Canberra 2611 (Australia)
- Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)
- Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
The Magellanic Quasars Survey (MQS) has now increased the number of quasars known behind the Magellanic Clouds by almost an order of magnitude. All survey fields in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and 70% of those in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) have been observed. The targets were selected from the third phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE-III) based on their optical variability, mid-IR, and/or X-ray properties. We spectroscopically confirmed 758 quasars (565 in the LMC and 193 in the SMC) behind the clouds, of which 94% (527 in the LMC and 186 in the SMC) are newly identified. The MQS quasars have long-term (12 yr and growing for OGLE), high-cadence light curves, enabling unprecedented variability studies of quasars. The MQS quasars also provide a dense reference grid for measuring both the internal and bulk proper motions of the clouds, and 50 quasars are bright enough (I ∼< 18 mag) for absorption studies of the interstellar/intergalactic medium of the clouds.
- OSTI ID:
- 22270835
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 775; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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