Resolving the nearest gravitational lens

Journal Article · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985 · Sky Telesc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5857298

Tyson, T; Gorenstein, M

The object 2237 + 0305 is a 15.7-magnitude spiral galaxy, located 400 million light years away in Pegasus, which was discovered in 1984 and spectroscopically determined to have its light contaminated by emissions from a quasar 80 times farther away from the earth. High resolution images have been obtained which exhibit multiple quasar images with matching spectra, implying that 2237 + 0305 is a gravitational lens. A comparison of four 100-sec exposures in blue light with two in the IR has distinguished between the lensed images and the lensing galaxy's core. Since the center of the galaxy does not lie on a line joining the two images of the quasar, the galaxy must have a more complex mass distribution than that anticipated for the spherical bulge of the galaxy.

• Research Organization: AT and T Bell Labs., Murray Hill, NJ; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA
• OSTI ID: 5857298
• Journal Information: Sky Telesc.; (United States), Journal Name: Sky Telesc.; (United States) Vol. 70; ISSN SKTEA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
DATA
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GALAXIES
GRAVITATIONAL LENSES
INFORMATION
LENSES
NUMERICAL DATA
QUASARS
SPECTRA