Frankfurt Quasar Monitoring

PG 1116+215
Object data
  Cross-Identifications   EUVE J1119+21.3, 2MASSi J1119086+211918
  1XMM J111908.7+211918, 2EUVE J1119+21.3
  RX J1119.1+2119, 1RXS J111908.1+211915
  FIRST J111908.6+211917, TON 1388, 2E 2443
  SDSS J111908.67+211918.0, 1116+215 
  Equat. coordinates   RA  11 19 08.8     DE  +21 19 18     (J2000)
  Constellation   Leo
  Type   QSO
  Redshift
   z=0.177
  Distance (2) (3)
   702 Mpc
  Total mag range (mv) (4)   14.2 - 15.0
  Catalog Magnitude (1)   14.72
  Absolute Magnitude (1)   -25.3 MB
  Light Travel-Time (2)   2.110 × 109 yrs
(1) Véron-Cetty & Véron 2006, A&A 455, 776
(2) NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database
(3) Co-Moving Radial Distance
(4) Literature
Finding chart

1116+215_chart_fqm.jpg

Comparison stars

star  B V R
A 14.22 13.47 13.14
B 14.50 13.77 13.37
C 15.12 14.34 13.93
D 15.16 14.49 14.15
E15.6414.7114.28
F16.1815.4614.98
comparison stars from GSC 2.3
PG 1116+215
The sharp eye of the Hubble Space Telescope resolved the host galaxy of PG 1116+215.
1116+215_bahcall_fqm.jpg
Image credit: Bahcall et al. (1997)
Colour chart
1116+215_color_fqm.jpg
Credit: SDSS  /  Size 13´× 13´ /  Chart by S. Karge
Light curve

1116+215_lc2404_fqm.jpg
Notes
PG 1116+215 is a bright quasar in western Leo, only 1.4° NE of Delta Leonis. The designation PG:1116+215 derives from Palomar-Green Bright Quasar Survey (PG), where this object was identified as a blue stellar object. Follow-up spectroscopy led to the quasar classification (Seyfert 1-spectrum). Initially, PG 1116+215 was discovered in the late 1950s by mexican Tonantzintla Blue Stellar Objects Survey (TON), searching for blue stellar objects like white dwarfs and quasars. PG 1116+216 = TON 1388 was cataloged as a very blue object with a photographic magnitude of 14.5. In the late 1990s, Hubble Space Telescope identified the quasar host as a type E2 elliptical galaxy (see image above).

PG 1116+215 is a small amplitude variable with a total range of about 1 magnitude in the optical. Visual observers with telescopes of 8- to 10-inch of aperture and larger will track down this 14-mag quasar without difficulties. PG 1116+215 appears as a stellar object even in large aperture telescopes.

CCD observers, as well as visual observers, may use the comparison stars given above. No photometric sequence has been published to date.
____________

In case you look for another bright quasar you may turn to PG 1211+143, a bright 14-mag quasar at a distance of about 1×109 light-years, 15° SE of PG 1116+215.
Turning your telescope 7.6° to the ENE will lead you to B2 1147+24, a highly variable BL Lac object, about 2.3×109 light-years distant.

When you are around for PG 1116+215 just take a while and move your telescope 1.2° to the SE to visit pretty bright Sc-spiral NGC 3646. Images show its spiral arms strongly disturbed, resulting in a ring-like spiral arm pattern. Only 7´ to the NE, there is another galaxy, NGC 3649, which is probably responsible for the disturbances in NGC 3646, due to former gravitational interaction.
About 1.5° NW of quasar PG 1116+215 we find a very special object: Leo II (UGC 6253, DDO 93), a Milky Way satellite galaxy. This dwarf spherical is a low surface brightness galaxy at a distance of roughly 800:000 light-years from earth. Deep widefield CCD imaging will easily catch this faint and large object (15´×:12´).
Visual observers may also like to take a look at two loose galaxy groups in western Leo.
The NGC:3607-galaxy group (3° S) and the NGC 3684-galaxy group (4.6° SE). Finally, rich galaxy cluster Abell 1367 (6° ESE), with its cD-galaxy NGC 3842, is an attractive (digital) observing target, you shall not miss.

Literature
Bahcall, J.N., Kirhakos, S., et al. 1997, ApJ, 479, 642; Hubble Space Telescope images of a sample of 20 nearby
     luminous quasars.
Boroson, T.A., Green, R.F. 1992, ApJS, 80, 109; The emission-line properties of low-redshift quasi-stellar objects.
Bowen, D.V., Osmer, S.J., Blades, J.C., et al. 1994, AJ, 107, 461; Hubble Space Telescope faint object spectrograph
     QSO absorption snapshot survey (ABSNA).
Chavira, E. 1959, BOTT, 18, 3; Estrellas azules en el Casquete Galactico Norte - II.
Elvis, M., Wilkes, B.J., McDowell, J.C., et al. 1994, ApJS, 95, 1; Atlas of quasar energy distributions.
Giveon, U., Maoz, D., et al., 1999, MNRAS, 306, 637; Long-term optical variability properties of the Palomar-Green
     quasars.
Green, R.F., Schmidt, M., Liebert, J. 1986, ApJS, 61, 305; The Palomar-Green catalog of ultraviolet-excess stellar
     objects.
Hansen, T. 1991, Deep Sky Magazine 34, 32; The "Deepest" Deep Sky Objects.
Karge, S.; Helle Quasare für 8- bis 10-Zoll Teleskope. Ein Beobachtungsführer zur visuellen Beobachtung von
     Quasaren und BL Lacertae Objekten; Frankfurt 2005.
Schmidt, M., Green, R.F. 1983, ApJ, 269, 352; Quasar evolution derived from the Palomar bright quasar survey
     and other complete quasar surveys.
Steinicke, W.; Katalog heller Quasare und BL Lacertae Objekte; Umkirch 1998.
Véron-Cetty, M.-P., Véron, P. 2001, A&A 374, 92; A Catalogue of Quasars and Active Nuclei: 10th edition.
Véron-Cetty, M.-P., Véron, P. 2003, A&A 412, 399; A Catalogue of Quasars and Active Nuclei: 11th edition.
Véron-Cetty, M.-P., Véron, P. 2006, A&A 455, 776; A Catalogue of Quasars and Active Nuclei: 12th edition.
Véron-Cetty, M.-P., Véron, P. 2010, A&A 518, 10; A Catalogue of Quasars and Active Nuclei: 13th edition.
Wilkes, B.J., Kuraszkiewicz, J., Green, P.J., et al. 1999, ApJ, 513, 76; Investigation of the Relation between the
     Spectral Energy Distributions and the Emission Lines in Low-Redshift Quasars.
   

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© Stefan Karge (FQM)  /  last obs. 2024-04-13






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