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Quasar Spectroscopy with FLAIR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Quentin A. Parker
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, Coonabarabran, NSW 2357, Australia
R.G. Clowes
Affiliation:
University of Central Lancashire, Preston, England
F.G. Watson
Affiliation:
Royal Greenwich Observatory, Cambridge, England

Abstract

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We demonstrate that the multi-object fibre-spectroscopy system ‘FLAIR’ on the UKST can be used to observe efficiently and effectively the brighter (B < 18.5) high-grade quasar candidates identified from UKST low-dispersion objective-prism plates. The quasar candidates were selected objectively by the application of AQD (automatic quasar detection) to prism plates that have been digitised using the COSMOS measuring machine. Thirteen high-grade quasar candidates with B ≤ 18.5 from a prism plate of ESO/SERC survey field 296 were observed with a 35-fibre version of FLAIR. From a total observing time of only 3 hours at a resolution of 8.4 Å/pixel six candidates were confirmed as quasars and four were identified as stars. The planned upgrade to a thinned, back-illuminated CCD in 1994 should yield a 3-fold increase in sensitivity and further enhance the capabilities of FLAIR for performing useful spectroscopic observations of quasars of moderate faintness over large areas of sky.

Type
XII. Cosmology
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1995

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