triple host QSO backlit by an ETG or interacting?
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by
WizardHowl
The host of this large triple (~3.5' at Z_sp=0.301) appears to be the broadline QSO SDSS J091401.76+050750.6 that looks to be either superimposed upon a background ETG or interacting with it. The ETG is not a photometric object in SDSS DR10. The QSO has 83 references in NED, many of which relate to interest in low Z quasars and also X-ray observations, although I wouldn't know which to check to see if the background ETG has been remarked upon or separately studied. Is it not a potentially scientifically valuable alignment to have a radio-loud QSO like this backlit by another galaxy? I would think these are quite as rare as gravitational lenses but with the foreground object being the QSO it might be more unusual. I suppose only with a spectrum of the ETG would it be possible to tell which is the closer object, or if they are interacting, though...
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by
WizardHowl
I would quickly add that there are other ETGs nearby with Z_ph similar to the Z_sp of the QSO, so an interacting scenario is more likely. It still seems a rare occurrence, though, to have a QSO interacting with an ETG - I don't remember running into any others right now...
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by
42jkb
scientist, admin
It is hard to say how often this would occur. This doesn't look like a cluster, so based on your analysis this could be a group. If you have a galaxy in front of a QSO, people look for an absorption feature usually in MgII or HI. I believe that there are around a few hundred MgII absorbers known.
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