Open AccessThe complex gravitational lens system B1933+503
Author(s) -
Sykes C. M.,
Browne I. W. A.,
Jackson N. J.,
Marlow D. R.,
Nair S.,
Wilkinson P. N.,
Blandford R. D.,
Cohen J.,
Fassnacht C. D.,
Hogg D.,
Pearson T. J.,
Readhead A. C. S.,
Womble D. S.,
Myers S. T.,
De Bruyn A. G.,
Bremer M.,
Miley G. K.,
Schilizzi R. T.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.02081.x
Subject(s) - physics , gravitational lens , astrophysics , galaxy , lens (geology) , redshift , spectral line , astronomy , core (optical fiber) , merlin (protein) , optics , medicine , suppressor , cancer
We report the discovery of the most complex arcsec‐scale radio gravitational lens system yet known. B1933+503 was found during the course of the CLASS survey and MERLIN and VLA radio maps reveal up to 10 components. Four of these are compact and have flat spectra; the rest are more extended and have steep spectra. The background lensed object appears to consist of a flat‐spectrum core (quadruply imaged) and two compact ‘lobes’ symmetrically disposed relative to the core. One of the lobes is quadruply imaged while the other is doubly imaged. An HST observation of the system with the WFPC2 shows a galaxy with an axial ratio of 0.5, but none of the images of the background object is detected. A redshift of 0.755 has been measured for the lens galaxy.