Hubble Space Telescope Cycle 11 General Observer ProposalImaging Quasar 3C 273Please select one of the choices for formattedsubmissionPrincipal Investigator: Ms. Christina BunkerInstitution: State University of New York at Stony BrookUnited StatesElectronic mail: [email protected] category: AGN/QUASARSScientific keywords: ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES, GALAXY CENTERS, GALAXYMORPOLOGY AND STRUCTURE, HOST GALAXIES,RADIO-LOUD QUASARSInstruments: WFC3 Proprietary p eriod: 12Cycle 11 primary orbits: 2Cycle 11 parallel orbits: 0AbstractBy using the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 it is possible to resolvethe elliptical galaxy around quasar 3C 273. Bahcall et al. published results on the hostgalaxies of twenty quasars including the latter. Taking a larger number of short exposureswill provide images with less saturation and better signal to noise. I would like to repeat thecalculations of Bahcall et al. to further investigate 3C 273 and its surrounding material.Observing Summary: Configuration,mode,aperture TotalTarget RA DEC V spectral el e ments orbits Flags3C 273 12 29 06.7 02 03 08.6 12.86 UVIS ACCUM F606W 2Grand total orbit request 2Ms. Christina BunkerImaging Quasar 3C 273Scientific JustificationQuasars are known to be located at the centers of galaxies. These sources radiate hundredsto thousa nds much more energy than a typical galaxy would, in a space comparable to thesize of the solar system. Astronomers today a r e in agreement that the intense amount ofradiation quasars produce is associated with black holes. If a black hole is surro unded closeenough to a significant amount of matter, it will attract the material and sucks it in.Ouasars were discovered with radio astronomy in the early 1960’s, (though not allof them happen to b e strong radio sources). They seemed to be only a normal stars toobservers looking through ground-based telescopes, who are unaware of the actual identityof the targ e t . Quasars, however, emit a very different spectrum f r om the usual star. It ishightly redshifted, indicating that they lie hundreds of megaparsecs away. Given this largedistance, quasars are known to be the most luminous objects in our solar system.The first quasar ever observed was 3C 273 in 1962 by Cyril Hazard and John Bolto n.This particular quasar is extremely bright, now known to have a magnitude of 12.86 in theV band. It also happens to be radio-loud and is accompanied by a jet that is thought tobe occuring from that intense e mission. Maarten Schmidt had discovered the high redshiftof this object and had thus concluded its extreme distance . The accepted distance today is580 megaparsecs with a redshift of 0.15834 .In recent years, studies have been completed to understand the environment a quasaris living in. Boyce et al. published results in 1998 on a survey of quasars using the HSTWide Field Planetary Camera. Additionally a survey of 20 quasars was done by Bachallet al. with HST Wide Field/Planetary Cam e r a-2 (WFPC2). Bachall’s survey included thehistorical source 3C 273.I would like to obtain new images of quasar 3C 273 with the Wide Field Came r a 3(WFC 3). Bahcall’s data was obtained in 1994 to gain knowledge about the environmentthat quasars live in. They had used WFPC2 with the F606W filter and had exposed for1100, 600, and 100 seconds. Bachall et al. had not e d that their image for this object hadsaturated 190 pixels out to 0.7 arcseconds. I would like t o take shorter images that willimprove the signal to noise of the image. I expect for my results to agree with those ofBahcall, finding the host galaxy for 3C 273 is an elliptical type E4.Continued analysis of 3C 273 are important for further understanding and clarity of theenvironment in which a quasar thrives. New images should be taken with WFC3 to studyhost galaxies in more detail and fill in any gaps remaining in the underlying science.ReferencesBahcall, J.N., Kirhakos, S., Saxe, D.H., Schneider, D.P., 1996, ApJ, 479:642-658Boyce, P.J., Disney, M.J., et al., 1998, MNRAS, Volume 298, Issue 1, pps 121-130Hubblesite News Release, ’Hubble Surveys the ’Homes’ of Quasar s’, STScI1996-35Hubblesit News Release, ’Hubble Probes the Heart of a Nearby Quasar’, STScI-2003-03Schmidt, M., 1963, Nature, Volume 197, pp 1040Sinbad Query Result for 3C 2732Ms. Christina BunkerImaging Quasar 3C 273Description of the Observati onsThere are a total of 52 minutes available to observe 3C 273 in each HST orbit. This is due tothe fact that it is at a declination of approximately three degrees. I would like to use a totalof two orbits in one visit. The F606W filter should be used for all images. Ten images ofthe same source should be taken. Each image should be exposed for three hundred seconds,in other words, five minutes.The first orbit should account for a six minute guide star acquisition time. Five images,each for five minutes will be taken in this orbit. Following each image, three minutes overheadtime are allowed. Between ea ch image o ne half of a minute allows for small angle maneuvers.For scheduling flexibility there is a one minute efficiency overhead. The total free time inthe first orbit amounts to t hree minutes.The second orbit will begin with a six minute guide star re-acquisition. Again five morefive minute exposures should be taken, with a half a minute between each, and three minutesfollowing each. A one minute efficiency overhead is once again accounted for. The total freetime in the second orbit again totals three