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Published August 11, 1997 | Accepted Version + Published
Journal Article Open

The unusual near-infrared morphology of the radio-loud quasar 4C + 09.17

Abstract

Near-infrared images of the luminous, high-redshift (z= 2.1108), radio-loud quasar 4C + 09.17 reveal a complex structure. The quasar (K= 15.76 mag) is surrounded by three 'companion' objects having 17.9 1.5. If this object is at the redshift of 4C + 09.17, it has a luminosity of about 7L^⋆. The faintest companion has colours which are unlike those expected from either a spiral or an E/S0 galaxy at any redshift associated with the 4C +09.17 system. Since this object lies along the same direction as the radio jet/lobe of 4C + 09.17, as well as the extended Lyα emission mapped by Heckman et al., we suggest that this component can be explained as a combination of strong line emission and scattered QSO light. The resolved, diffuse emission surrounding 4C + 09.17 is bright, K~ 17.0 mag, and about 1 mag redder inJ—K than the quasar. If this emission is starlight, a very luminous elliptical host galaxy is implied for 4C +09.17. Scattered and reddened AGN light, emission-line gas, and flux from absorbing galaxies along the line of sight may all contribute to this emission.

Additional Information

© 1997 RAS. Accepted 1997 March 21. Received 1997 February 6; in original form 1996 October 7. This work was based on observations made with the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. We thank the entire Keck staff, especially Wendy Harrison and Al Conrad, for making these observations possible. We also thank Peter Barthel, Tim Heckman, David Hogg, Neill Reid, Tom Soifer and Chuck Steidel for helpful discussions. Finally, we thank Steve Warren, the referee, whose comments and suggestions helped to improve the final version of this paper. Infrared astrophysics at Caltech is supported by grants from NASA. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, under contract with NASA.

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