- Ancillary Targets
- Transient Universe in Stripe 82
- Host Galaxies of SDSS-II SNe
- BCGs in
Stripe 82 - High-Quality LRG spectra
- Reddened
Quasars - No Quasar Left Behind
- Variability-Selected Quasars
- K-band Selected Quasars
- Low-Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs
- Low-Mass Binary Stars
- White Dwarfs and Hot Subdwarfs
- Distant Halo
Giants - Bright
Galaxies - High-Energy Blazars in Optical
- An X-Ray View Star Formation
- Remarkable X-Ray Sources
- Star-Forming Radio Galaxies
- Galaxies Near QSO Sight Lines
- Luminous Blue Galaxies
- BAL Quasar Variability
- Variable QSO Absorption
- Double-Lobed Radio QSOs
- High-Redshift Quasars
- High-z QSOs in SDSS/UKIDSS
- BOSS Targeting
- Algorithms
Reddened Quasars
Summary
A search for quasars reddened by dust absorption (either from intervening sources or sources local to the quasar) in the 220-square-degree survey area of Stripe 82.
Finding Targets
An object whose ANCILLARY_TARGET1
value includes one or more of the bitmasks
in the following table was targeted for spectroscopy as part of this ancillary target
program. See SDSS-III bitmasks to learn how to use
these values to identify objects in this ancillary target program.
Sub-program (bit name) |
Bit | Target Description |
---|---|---|
RQSS_SF | 32 | Selected from SDSS and FIRST photometry |
RQSS_SFC | 33 | Selected from SDSS and FIRST photometry (child object in SDSS imaging) |
RQSS_STM | 34 | Selected from SDSS and 2MASS photometry |
RQSS_STMC | 35 | Selected from SDSS and 2MASS photometry (child object in SDSS imaging) |
Description
Quasar candidates likely to be intrinsically reddened - quasar candidates with E(B-V) > 0.5 - were selected from SDSS photometry complemented by photometry from either the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-one centimeters (FIRST; Gregg et al. 1996) or the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS; Skrutskie et al. 2006). The goal of observing these reddened quasars was to better determine the distribution of reddenings, both in intervening absorbers and at quasar redshifts - which in turn enables studies of reddening as a function of quasar properties.
Targets were selected based on color selection and stellar morphology. All targets were required to have 17 < zPSF < 21, with dereddened colors satisfying the equation (gPSF - iPSF) - 3σ(gPSF - iPSF) > 0.9.
Targets selected from SDSS plus FIRST data were denoted by sub-programs RQSS_SF or RQSS_SFC (the trailing C indicates that the target was a CHILD object in SDSS), and were additionally required to match within 2" of a FIRST source. Targets selected from SDSS plus 2MASS data (sub-programs RQSS_TM or RQSS_TMC) were additionally required to match within 3" of a 2MASS source having 11 < K < 15.1, (J - K) > 1.25, and a 7-dimensional color distance (Covey et al. 2007) greater than 50 (this is the distance in units of χ2 to the point on the stellar locus with the same (g – i) color as the object).
This ancillary target program was discontinued after the first year due to low yield, and targets are included on only 13 completed plates. It is superseded by the ancillary target program K-band Limited Sample of Quasars.
Primary contact
Pat Hall |
---|
York University |
phall -at- yorku.ca |
REFERENCES
Covey, K. R., et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2398
Gregg, M.D., Becker, R.H., White, R.L., Helfand, D.J., McMahon, R.G., Hook, I.M., 1996, AJ, 112, 407,
doi:10.1086/118024
Skrutskie, M. F., et al. 2006, AJ, 131, 1163