CaltechAUTHORS
  A Caltech Library Service

1608+656: A Quadruple-Lens System Found in the CLASS Gravitational Lens Survey

Myers, S. T. and Fassnacht, C. D. and Djorgovski, S. G. and Blandford, R. D. and Matthews, K. and Neugebauer, G. and Pearson, T. J. and Readhead, A. C. S. and Smith, J. D. and Thompson, D. J. and Womble, D. S. and Browne, I. W. A. and Wilkinson, P. N. and Nair, S. and Jackson, N. and Snellen, I. A. G. and Miley, G. K. and de Bruyn, A. G. and Schilizzi, R. T. (1995) 1608+656: A Quadruple-Lens System Found in the CLASS Gravitational Lens Survey. Astrophysical Journal, 447 (1). L5-L8. ISSN 0004-637X. doi:10.1086/309556. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150817-154138504

[img] PDF - Published Version
See Usage Policy.

1MB

Use this Persistent URL to link to this item: https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150817-154138504

Abstract

The first phase of a large gravitational lens survey using the Very Large Array at a wavelength of 3.6 cm has been completed, yielding images for 3258 radio sources. The Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS) is designed to locate gravitational lens systems consisting of multiply imaged compact components with separations greater than 0.”2. We report here the first discovery of a gravitational lens from the survey: 1608+656, a quadruply imaged object with a maximum separation of 2.”1. Images from the Palomar 5 m and Keck 10 m telescopes show the lensed images and the lensing galaxy. An optical spectrum obtained with the Palomar 5 m telescope indicates a redshift of z=0.6304 for the lensing galaxy. No conclusive redshift for the lensed object has been determined, although a single strong emission line is found at 9240 Å in the Keck low-resolution imaging spectrograph spectrum. The two most likely identifications for this line are Hβ (z=0.90) and Mg II (z=2.30). The preliminary lens model derived from the radio image reproduces the observed configuration and relative fluxes of the images, as well as the position, shape, and orientation of the lensing galaxy. Because a simple mass model is able to fit the observations, we argue that this lens system is promising for determining H_0.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/309556DOIArticle
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995ApJ...447L...5MADSArticle
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Fassnacht, C. D.0000-0002-4030-5461
Djorgovski, S. G.0000-0002-0603-3087
Blandford, R. D.0000-0002-1854-5506
Pearson, T. J.0000-0001-5213-6231
Readhead, A. C. S.0000-0001-9152-961X
Smith, J. D.0000-0003-1545-5078
Additional Information:© 1995 American Astronomical Society. Received 1995 March 6; accepted 1995 April 18. S. T. M. is supported by an R. A Millikan Fellowship at Caltech. CLASS at Caltech is supported by NSF grant AST-9117100. S. G. D. was supported by NSF PYI award AST-9157412. Infrared astrophysics at Caltech is supported by a grant from the NSF. D. S. W. acknowledges support of a Hubble Fellowship provided by NASA through grant HF-1040.01-92A from the STScl, which is operated by the AURA. We thank the staff of the VLA and the Palomar and Keck observatories for their assistance during our observing runs. S. T. M. also acknowledges the hospitality of the ITP in Santa Barbara, which is supported by the NSF under grant PHY89-04035, during the completion of this manuscript.
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
CaltechUNSPECIFIED
NSFAST-9117100
NSFAST-9157412
NSFUNSPECIFIED
NASA Hubble FellowshipHF-1040.01-92A
NSFPHY89-04035
Subject Keywords:gravitational lensing
Issue or Number:1
DOI:10.1086/309556
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20150817-154138504
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150817-154138504
Official Citation:1608+656: A Quadruple-Lens System Found in the CLASS Gravitational Lens Survey S. T. Myers et al. 1995 ApJ 447 L5
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:59664
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Tony Diaz
Deposited On:17 Aug 2015 22:56
Last Modified:19 Jan 2023 17:10

Repository Staff Only: item control page