Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1997-09-05
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
17 pages (Latex), 8 postscript figures included, accepted by MNRAS
Scientific paper
We report the discovery of a new gravitational lens candidate Q2138-431AB, comprising two quasar images at a redshift of 1.641 separated by 4.5 arcsecs. The spectra of the two images are very similar, and the redshifts agree to better than 115 km.sec$^{-1}$. The two images have magnitudes $B_J = 19.8$ and $B_J = 21.0$, and in spite of a deep search and image subtraction procedure, no lensing galaxy has been found with $R < 23.8$. Modelling of the system configuration implies that the mass-to-light ratio of any lensing galaxy is likely to be around $1000 M_{\odot}/L_{\odot}$, with an absolute lower limit of $200 M_{\odot}/L_{\odot}$ for an Einstein-de Sitter universe. We conclude that the most likely explanation of the observations is gravitational lensing by a dark galaxy, although it is possible we are seeing a binary quasar.
Clements David
Fried Josef W.
Hawkins Michael R. S.
Heavens Alan F.
Minty Elspeth M.
No associations
LandOfFree
The Double Quasar Q2138-431: Lensing by a Dark Galaxy? does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Double Quasar Q2138-431: Lensing by a Dark Galaxy?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Double Quasar Q2138-431: Lensing by a Dark Galaxy? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-10843