Direct determination of quasar redshifts

Abstract

We present observations of 11 quasars, selected in the range z = 2.2-4.1, obtained with ESA's Superconducting Tunnel Junction (STJ) camera on the WHT. Using a single template quasar spectrum, we show that we can determine the redshifts of these objects to about 1%. A follow-up spectroscopic observation of one QSO for which our best-fit redshift (z = 2.976) differs significantly from the tentative literature value (z ~ 2.30) confirms that the latter was incorrect.

4 pages, 3 figures; uses aa.cls, psfig.sty, natbib.sty; accepted for publication in A&A Letters

References in corpus (6)

• A Composite HST Spectrum of Quasars
• The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey - V. The 10k catalogue
• High-Redshift Quasars Found in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Commissioning Data
• First Astronomical Application of a Cryogenic TES Spectrophotometer
• High-Speed Energy-Resolved STJ Photometry of the Eclipsing Binary UZ For
• Simulated Extragalactic Observations with a Cryogenic Imaging Spectrophotometer

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• Cherenkov Telescopes as Optical Telescopes for Bright Sources: Today's Specialised Thirty Metre Telescopes?
• A Concept for an STJ-based Spectrograph
• High-speed, energy-resolved, STJ observations of the AM Her system V2301 Oph
• Temperature determination via STJ optical spectroscopy
• First results of a cryogenic optical photon counting imaging spectrometer using a DROID array