SDSS J120923.7+264047: a new massive galaxy cluster with a bright giant arc |
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Authors: | Eran O. Ofek Stella Seitz Felix Klein |
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Affiliation: | Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA;Universitäts-Sternwarte München, München, Germany |
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Abstract: | Highly magnified lensed galaxies allow us to probe the morphological and spectroscopic properties of high-redshift stellar systems in great detail. However, such objects are rare, and there are only a handful of lensed galaxies that are bright enough for a high-resolution spectroscopic study with current instrumentation. We report the discovery of a new massive lensing cluster, SDSS J120923.7+264047, at z = 0.558. Present around the cluster core, at angular distances of up to ∼40 arcsec, are many arcs and arc candidates, presumably due to lensing of background galaxies by the cluster gravitational potential. One of the arcs, 21 arcsec long, has an r -band magnitude of 20, making it one of the brightest known lensed galaxies. We obtained a low-resolution spectrum of this galaxy, using the Keck-I telescope, and found it is at redshift of z = 1.018. |
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Keywords: | gravitational lensing galaxies: clusters: individual: SDSS J120923.7+264047 galaxies: high-redshift |
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