Seoul National University Bright Quasar Survey in Optical (SNUQSO) I: First Phase Observations and Results

Abstract

We present results from the first phase of the Seoul National University Bright Quasar Survey in Optical (SNUQSO) as well as its basic observational setup. Previous and current large-area surveys have been successful in identifying many quasars, but they could have missed bright quasars due to their survey design. In order to help complete the census of bright quasars, we have performed spectroscopic observations of new bright quasar candidates selected from various methods based on optical colors, near-infrared colors, radio, and X-ray data. In 2005/2006, we observed 55 bright quasar candidates using the Bohyunsan Optical Echelle Spectrograph (BOES) on the 1.8 m telescope at the Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory in Korea. We identify 14 quasars/Seyferts from our observation, including an optically bright quasar with i=14.98 mag at z=0.092 (SDSS J003236.59-091026.2). Non-quasar/Seyfert objects are found to be mostly stars, among which there are five M-type stars and one cataclysmic variable. Our result shows that there still exist bright quasars to be discovered. However, at the same time, we conclude that finding new bright quasars in high Galactic latitude regions is very challenging and that the existing compilation of optically bright quasars is nearly complete in the northern hemisphere.

29 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables

References in corpus (4)

• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog IV. Fifth Data Release
• Timescale of variation and the size of the accretion disc in active galactic nuclei
• The Optical and Near-Infrared Properties of 2837 Quasars in the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)
• Seoul National University Bright Quasar Survey in Optical (SNUQSO). II. Discovery of 40 Bright Quasars Near the Galactic Plane

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Rest-frame Optical Spectra and Black Hole Masses of 3<z<6 Quasars
• The AKARI 2.5-5.0 Micron Spectral Atlas of Type-1 Active Galactic Nuclei: Black Hole Mass Estimator, Line Ratio, and Hot Dust Temperature
• Medium-resolution Optical and Near-Infrared Spectral Atlas of 16 2MASS-selected NIR-red Active Galactic Nuclei at $z\sim 0.3$
• Eddington Ratios of Dust-obscured Quasars at $z\lesssim 1$: Evidence Supporting Dust-obscured Quasars as Young Quasars
• AllBRICQS: The Discovery of Luminous Quasars in the Northern Hemisphere