Newly discovered quadruple quasar candidate in Andromeda

[wvreeven]

Dear all,

Today arXiv features a paper about a newly discovered quadruple quasar candidate in Andromeda called J014709+463037. The quasar seems to be at z~2.6 and the lensing system at z~0.57. The four images are 1.3" to 3.4" apart and have r magnitudes r = 15.4–17.7 mag which should put three of the four parts in reach of 20" telescopes and the fourth, and faintest, part possibly in reach of larger telescopes. The paper containing images taken with Keck can be found here

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.05873.pdf

Good luck hunting this one down!


Clear skies,

Wouter

[wvreeven]

Edit: the redshift of the quasar is estimated to be z=2.377, not ~2.6

[Howard B]

That's exciting! Thanks for the heads up Wouter, and hopefully I'll have good enough skies this weekend to observe it/them.

[wvreeven]

Good luck Howard. The forecast for my location near Madrid, Spain, are great but unfortunately I will be away for the weekend without telescope

[Uwe Glahn]

Nice find Wouter, thanks for presenting this cool quasar. I just saved this object and report as soon as I get the chance to visit it.

[FaintFuzzies]

Are the coordinates for this object at 01h47m09s +46 30' 37"? I tried plugging the coords in DSS and couldn't find it? I plan to go out tonight to look for it.

[lamperti]

If it is new, it will not be in atlases etc.

Surprised it was not found sooner. If anyone has a newer WinZIP version, try opening the Million Quasar Catalogue http://quasars.org/milliquas.htm and see if it is in there.
Al

[FaintFuzzies]

Thanks Al. It is not in the list.

[wvreeven]

I couldn't find it in Simbad either. Does NED acknowledge its existence?

[Uwe Glahn]

No need for NED or SIMBAD, just check the finder charts and/or coordinates [URL="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1705.08359.pdf"]from here

[Uwe Glahn]

No need for NED or SIMBAD, just check the finder charts and/or coordinates from here

[FaintFuzzies]

Thanks Uwe. Looked at the finder chart. The corresponding DSS image looked like a star, which threw me off. Thought it would be at least elongated. And I thought the naming with J is basically the coords. I'll give it a whack tonight and will let all know.

[Uwe Glahn]

Let us know what you could see Alvin, it could be in reach of your 22-inch. Weather here is wet all around, no chance to check the quasar.

The corresponding DSS image looked like a star, which threw me off.

I heard about a size of 10" from which the guys who were searching on the plates suspected laminar appearance. So no wonder that the quasar looks stellar. Better take the SDSS or the new PanSTARRS survey. Given the "J" coords the culprit is easily visible.

[FaintFuzzies]

Hi all,

I made it out to one of our favorite sites at 7,600 feet elevation. At 690x with my 22" reflector, the object immediately looked like an elongated star aligned roughly E-W. During steady seeing, two distinct points of light popped in and out. I did see component C only once and was not able to see it again, so I treat as a non-observation.AndromedaParachute.JPG

[wvreeven]

Well done!

[FaintFuzzies]

http://www.faintfuzzies.com/OR-Jul022017-SR.html

[Andrew Robertson]

Hi all, I've been a member of this forum for a number of years but I believe this is my first report on it, probably because our decent observing windows are so few and far between here in the UK that a particular thread is usually well old by the time I get an observation of an OOTW. Owen Brazell pointed this one out to me and an opportunity came on the night of Saturday 19th August. Scope used: a 600mm (24") F4.5 driven Dobsonian. Location: Norfolk,UK; about 12 miles West of Lowestoft (UK's most easterly point) and about 35 feet above sea level. My skies are quite dark for the UK but this was a milky night with NELM 5.5 at best, lower at times (Humidity can be a problem here and it was about 80% on this night.) Seeing was about Ant III, stars were sharp with an 8mm Ethos (x340), but starting to go blobby with a 4.7mm Ethos (x575).

I identified the star field using Alvin Huey's excellent chart as posted on this thread (thanks Alvin). I identified the mag 12 star in the centre of the field and the 2 fainter stars in a line above it. I immediately noticed the faint 'star' below the brighter one. I could see that it was elongated but I couldn't split it. I sketched the elongation and position in relation to the row of 3 stars and was pleased to note when checking afterwards that it tied in with the images. N.B. a 3.7mm Ethos (x730) didn't improve the view (seeing not good enough) but confirmed what I was seeing.

An exciting observation, thanks to all for the helpful information on this thread.

Andrew Robertson

[Uwe Glahn]

Finally also got it. After an attempt under soft seeing and the missing sighting even of the elongation I got a second chance under nearly perfect seeing conditions (Austrian High Alps) and good transparency (NELM above 7mag).

From ~600x the elongation was visible without problems. When increasing the magnification above 1000x (observation were made while switching between 1172x and 1465x) first thing to see was the bean shape structure of the object. The middle peak was by far the most easiest detail within the "bean". Although best seeing condition I had problems to resolve A and B. More easy to me was the split from A to C. C itself seems to be a little bit more distance to A than A to B. This could also be a illusion because C is much fainter than B. The duo A-C I could hold for seconds each. The triple peaks I could only separate in moments of perfect seeing. I could not hold all three peaks for more than seconds but all three peaks were definitely visible at the same moment. I also tried D but could never see even a pop of the faint companion.

To classify my observation, especially the limiting magnitude I tried to get as deep as I could within the neighborhood star field. Perhaps I could get the chance to re-observe the Parachute in a month with a 36-inch telescope under good conditions.

sketch: 27", 1172x-1465x, NELM 7m0+, Seeing II
QSO_J014709+463037.jpg

[Howard B]

I had two good observations of the Parachute at the Oregon Star Party a couple weeks ago with my 28 inch. Unlike Uwe, I was only able to see the two brightest components as star like images, but I did see the third as a fuzzy area, completing the parachutes "canopy". No sign of the fourth component, but I think we need to save that one for Jimi.

Several other observers saw it as well through my scope, and it showed best at 700x to 952x. The combined glow of the components make the surprisingly easy to see, but steady seeing is needed to separate them. My guess is that a 12 inch scope could see them. One of the observers, who actually located the Parachute in the correct field of view for me, was Ronald Stoyan, one of the authors of the Interstellarum star atlas. I didn't realize who he was until he commented that it was nice to see his atlas being used at the OSP. After a brief moment of wondering what he meant he introduced himself and we enjoyed about an hour of observing the parachute together. What a treat!

AndromedasParachuteCrop.gif AndromedasParachuteCrop_invert.gif

[Norman]

Good guess Howard,

my 12" showed the object easily at powers from 170 to 430. More Power seeing didn´t allow. I had a sky around NELM 6m8. The Quasar was high in the sky, no wind at all, humidity around 70%.
My impression of the view is best described with a tiny but very obvious smudge. A stellar flash occured once - a bit off centre.
My guess is, that 10" are far enough to see it, maybe even visible in 8".

CS
Norman

[Newton]

Hi,

I just returned from the Calstar star party and had a chance to look at the parachute. Saturday night Steve Gottlieb found it in his 24" and I found it in Rick Linden's 32". Rick was extremely generous in sharing his wonderful telescope with all of us.

In the 32" we could clearly see the elongated glow of the parachute using a 4.7 Ethos. After replacing the Ethos with a 6 mm ZAO II ( putting us at about 500x) two equally bright starlike points ( A and B) could be seen and held comfortably and continuously with direct vision. A magnificent object to behold, and one of the great highlights of all my observing! Earlier in the evening we watched a nighttime launch of an Atlas 5 rocket from a nearby base- amazing to see. Quite the eventful starparty.

I am guessing Jimi has looked at this object with the mighty Barbarella. C and D also seen?

Best,

Alan

[Joe Adlhoch]

Hey all, I'm new to this forum but have used many of your outside resources over the years (Faint Fuzzies, Adventures in Deep Space, etc.). I saw this on Alvin Huey's site so I had to go for it. Last Monday (9/18) I found the Parachute with my 30" Starmaster under mediocre skies outside Loveland, CO. I could see *something*, but it was not elongated. I took a 10 second picture of it with my cell phone, and it was definitely visible. (If I can figure out how to upload it here I will.) Then on Wednesday (9/20) I observed it with a friend's home built 24" dob from their family farm northeast of Greeley, CO. The seeing was much better. Both of us could see the Parachute as elongated and about 40% of the time we saw 2 distinct points of light. This is a very exciting object!

[lamperti]

Just got back from Cherry Springs State Park in PA and am pleased to say I can echo Alvin's observation with my 22" also. I used 770x and saw only 2 points of light during moments of steadier seeing. Star-hopped, from NGC-746.

Al

Hi all,

I made it out to one of our favorite sites at 7,600 feet elevation. At 690x with my 22" reflector, the object immediately looked like an elongated star aligned roughly E-W. During steady seeing, two distinct points of light popped in and out. I did see component C only once and was not able to see it again, so I treat as a non-observation.AndromedaParachute.JPG

[Norman]

Hi folks,

recently i revisited the parachute. This time seeing allowed magnification around 700x in my 12". The elongation was visible in correct position angle :-)
It took quite some concentration but all in all it was easy to reproduce the elongation.
NELM around 6m8, humidity 60-70%. 1550m above sea level, bavarian alps.

CS
Norman

[Keith Rivich]

Just got back from an observing night on the 82" at the McDonald. We observed the parachute under pretty good skies. In the 41mm Pan (400x) the a,b and c components formed a nice little curve with a and b occasionally split. Bumping up the power to 1300x, and a little tweaking on focus to chase the seeing, c could be split as well. When c was split d became visible as a soft little glow.