The Discovery of a Low-Redshift, Red Quasar in the 2MASS Prototype Survey
Abstract
A prototype camera designed to test the observing and data reduction techniques for the 2 Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) has been used to search for extremely red objects. Selection criteria based on the combination of near-IR and visible light observations help separate the vast majority of ordinary stars from more exotic objects. Visible spectroscopic observations for objects selected using these criteria in an area of just a few tenths of a square degree has resulted in the discovery of a quasar with a redshift of 0.147. The number of quasars expected at K_s in the 2MASS survey based on typical quasar colors and on the surface density of optically selected samples is ~0.17 deg^-2. The 2MASS survey will result in a sample of quasars relatively unbiased by the presence of dust and will allow a reliable determination of whether there is a significant population of quasars with internal dust absorption.
- Publication:
-
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
- Pub Date:
- April 1998
- DOI:
- 10.1086/316145
- Bibcode:
- 1998PASP..110..367B
- Keywords:
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- SURVEYS;
- GALAXIES: DISTANCES AND REDSHIFTS;
- QUASARS: GENERAL