Abstract
QUASARS are the most luminous objects in the Universe. It has been speculated that they are the visible evidence for accretion of gas onto supermassive black holes that reside at the centres of host galaxies. Direct observational confirmation that quasars reside in the centres of galaxies has been hard to obtain, because atmospheric turbulence usually scatters the quasar light sufficiently to swamp the signal from the fainter surrounding galaxy. Despite the difficulties, however, many attempts have been made to observe the host galaxies1–17, although the results have not been definitive18. Here we report observations of four quasars, made with the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope. In all four cases the quasars reside in luminous elliptical galaxies with very close companions. This is in contrast to recent work19,20in which host galaxies were not observed (in a sample of quasars that has one in common with ours). The elliptical galaxies are featureless, but the presence of close companions is suggestive of continuing interactions.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kristian, J. Astrophys. J. 179, L61–L64 (1973).
Wyckoff, S., Wehinger, P. A. & Gehren, T. Astrophys. J. 247, 750–761 (1981).
Hutchings, J. B. & Campbell, B. Nature 303, 584–588 (1983).
Hutchings, J. B., Crampton, D. & Campbell, B. Astrophys. J. 280, 41–50 (1984).
Hutchings, J. B., Crampton, D., Campbell, B., Duncan, D. & Glendenning, B. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 55, 319–366 (1984).
Malkan, M. A., Margon, B. & Chanon, G. A. Astrophys. J. 280, 66–78 (1984).
Malkan, M. A. Astrophys. J. 287, 555–565 (1984).
Margon, B., Downes, R. A. & Chanon, G. A. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 59, 23–31 (1985).
Smith, E. P., Heckman, T. M., Bothun, G. D., Romanishin, W. R. & Balick, B. Astrophys. J. 306, 64–89 (1986).
Hutchings, J. B., Janson, T. & Neff, S. G. Astrophys. J. 342, 660–665 (1989).
Hutchings, J. B. & Neff, S. G. Astr. J. 99, 1715–1721 (1990).
Veron-Cetty, M.-P. & Woltjer, L. Astr. Astrophys. 236, 69–85 (1990).
Neff, S. G. & Hutchings, J. B. Astr. J. 100, 1441–1451 (1900).
Hutchings, J. B. & Neff, S. G. Astr. J. 104, 1–14 (1992).
Dunlop, J. S., Taylor, G. L., Hughes, D. H. & Robson, E. I. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 264, 455–488 (1993).
Abrahams, R. G., Crawford, C. S. & McHardy, I. M. Astrophys. J. 401, 474–480 (1992).
Boyce, P. J., Phillipps, S. & Davies, J. I. Astr. Astrophys. 280, 694–703 (1993).
Miller, J. S. in Astrophysics of Active Galaxies and Quasi-Stellar Objects (ed. Miller, J. S.) (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1985).
Bahcall, J. N., Kirhakos, S. & Schneider, D. P. Astrophys. J. 435, L11–L14 (1994).
Bahcall, J. N., Kirhakos, S. & Schneider, D. P. Astrophys. J. (in the press).
Veron-Cetty, M. P. & Veron, P. A Catalogue of Quasars and Active Nuclei 6th edn (Sci. Rep. No. 13, ESO, Garching, 1993).
Burrows, C. J. Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 Instrument Handbook, Version 2.0 (STSCI, Baltimore, 1994).
Phillipps, S. & Boyce, P. J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 256, 673–678 (1992).
Bergeron, J. Astr. Astrophys. 155, L8–L11 (1986).
Gower, A. C. & Hutchings, J. B. Publs astr. Soc. Pacif. 96, 19–23 (1984).
Hutchings, J. B., Morris, S. C., Gower, A. C. & Lister, M. L. Publs astr. Soc. Pacif. 106, 642–645 (1994).
Morganti, R., Killeen, N. E. B. & Tadhunter, C. M. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 263, 1023–1048 (1993).
Boissé, P., Boulade, O., Kunth, D., Tytler, D. & Vigroux, I. Astr. Astrophys. 262, 401–416 (1992).
Hutchings, J. B. et al. Astrophys. J. 429, L1–L4 (1994).
Hutchings, J. B. & Morris, S. C. Astr. J. 109, 1541–1545 (1995).
Krist, J. & Burrows, C. Large Angle Scattering in WFPC2 and Horizontal ‘Smearing’ Correction (WFPC2 Instrument Science Report 94-01, STSCI, Baltimore, 1994).
Krist, J. Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems II (eds Hanish, R. J., Brissenden, R. J. V. & Barnes, J.) (ASP Conf. Ser. 52, San Francisco, 1993).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Disney, M., Boyce, P., Blades, J. et al. Interacting elliptical galaxies as hosts of intermediate-redshift quasars. Nature 376, 150–153 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/376150a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/376150a0
This article is cited by
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.