Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997hst..prop.7422r&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #7422
Physics
Hst Proposal Id #7422 Cosmology
Scientific paper
We request NICMOS observations of the gravitational lens system 1608+656 in order to measure the light distribution of the lens while minimizing the effects of extinction. This information is needed to refine the lens mass model - required if the system is to be used to determine H_0. The 1608+656 system is one of the 5 lenses found so far in the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey and is the most promising one to use for H_0 determination. Our systematic follow-up has given both the lens and source redshifts, z=0.63 and z=1.39, respectively. We have also made extensive VLA and VLBA observations and have been granted time to monitor the system for time delays. What we now need is a well constrained model of the lens and this is the prime motivation for the present proposal. Our WFPC2 observations show spectacular optical arcs produced by the imaging of the extended radio galaxy. These arcs sample the lens potential at many points and thus produce many constraints on the mass model, providing information unavailable in even very high resolution {1 mas} radio images. However, the lens as seen with WFPC2 has two peaks separated by 0.7 arcsec suggesting either two galaxies or more likely a single galaxy containing dust. The NICMOS image will show if there is really a single lensing galaxy and give the distribution of starlight {which we can relate to mass} substantially free from the effects of dust.
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