Towards a fundamental astrometric reference system behind the Malleganic clouds : spectroscopic confirmation of new quasar candidates selected in the near-infrared

Ivanov, Valentin D.; Cioni, Maria-Rosa Lucia; Bekki, Kenji; De Grijs, Richard; Emerson, Jim; Gibson, Brad K.; Kamath, Devika; Van Loon, Jacco Th; Piatti, Andrés; For, Bi-Qing

Towards a fundamental astrometric reference system behind the Malleganic clouds : spectroscopic confirmation of new quasar candidates selected in the near-infrared

Ivanov, Valentin D.; Cioni, Maria-Rosa Lucia; Bekki, Kenji; De Grijs, Richard; Emerson, Jim; Gibson, Brad K.; Kamath, Devika; Van Loon, Jacco Th; Piatti, Andrés; For, Bi-Qing

Authors

Valentin D. Ivanov

Maria-Rosa Lucia Cioni

Kenji Bekki

Richard De Grijs

Jim Emerson

Brad K. Gibson

Devika Kamath

Jacco Th Van Loon

Andrés Piatti

Bi-Qing For

Abstract

Quasi-stellar objects (quasars) located behind nearby galaxies provide an excellent absolute reference system for astrometric studies, but they are difficult to identify because of fore- and background contamination. We have embarked on a programme to expand the quasar reference system behind the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the Magellanic Bridge and Magellanic Stream. Hundreds of quasar candidates were selected, based on their near-infrared colours and variability properties from the ESO VISTA Magellanic Clouds (VMC) Public Survey. A subset of 49 objects was followed up with optical spectroscopy with FORS2. We confirmed the quasar nature of 37 objects (34 new identifications) that span a redshift range from z ~ 0.5 to 4.1.

Citation

Ivanov, V. D., Cioni, M.-R. L., Bekki, K., De Grijs, R., Emerson, J., Gibson, B. K., Kamath, D., Van Loon, J. T., Piatti, A., & For, B.-Q. (2016). Towards a fundamental astrometric reference system behind the Malleganic clouds : spectroscopic confirmation of new quasar candidates selected in the near-infrared. The Messenger, 32-34

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 1, 2016
Publication Date	Oct 3, 2016
Deposit Date	Mar 10, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Mar 10, 2017
Journal	ESO messenger
Print ISSN	0722-6691
Electronic ISSN	0722-6691
Publisher	European Southern Observatory
Peer Reviewed	Not Peer Reviewed
Issue	163
Pages	32-34
Keywords	Quasars
Public URL	https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/449461
Publisher URL	https://www.eso.org/sci/publications/messenger/archive/no.163-mar16/messenger-no163-32-34.pdf
Additional Information	This is a copy of an article published in ESO Messenger, 2016, issue 163.
Contract Date	Mar 10, 2017