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CLASS B0445+123: a new two-image gravitational lens system

M. K. Argo, N. J. Jackson, I. W. A. Browne, T. York, J. P. McKean, A. D. Biggs, R. D. Blandford, A. G. de Bruyn, K. H. Chae, C. D. Fassnacht, L. V. E. Koopmans, D. R. Marlow, S. T. Myers, M. Norbury, T. J. Pearson, P. M. Phillips, A. C. S. Readhead, D. Rusin, P. N. Wilkinson

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/0210234

Abstract

A new two-image gravitational lens system has been discovered as a result of the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS). Radio observations with the VLA, MERLIN and the VLBA at increasingly higher resolutions all show two components with a flux density ratio of ~7:1 and a separation of 1.34". Both components are compact and have the same spectral index. Followup observations made with the VLA at 8.4 GHz show evidence of a feature to the south-east of the brighter component and a corresponding extension of the weaker component to the north-west. Optical observations with the WHT show ~1.7" extended emission aligned in approximately the same direction as the separation between the radio components with an R-band magnitude of 21.8 +/- 0.4.

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