Discovery of the Most Ultra-Luminous QSO Using GAIA, SkyMapper, and WISE

Christian Wolf; Fuyan Bian; Christopher A. Onken; Brian P. Schmidt; Patrick Tisserand; Noura Alonzi; Wei Jeat Hon; John L. Tonry

doi:10.1017/pasa.2018.22

Discovery of the Most Ultra-Luminous QSO Using GAIA, SkyMapper, and WISE

Christian Wolf^*, Fuyan Bian, Christopher A. Onken, Brian P. Schmidt, Patrick Tisserand, Noura Alonzi, Wei Jeat Hon, John L. Tonry

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report the discovery of the ultra-luminous quasi-stellar object SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 with magnitude z = 16.9 and W4 = 7.42 at redshift 4.75. Given absolute magnitudes of M145,AB = -29.3, M300,AB = -30.12, and logLbol/Lbol,⊙= 14.84, it is the quasi-stellar object with the highest unlensed UV-optical luminosity currently known in the Universe. It was found by combining proper-motion data from Gaia DR2 with photometry from SkyMapper DR1 and the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer. In the GAIA database, it is an isolated single source and thus unlikely to be strongly gravitationally lensed. It is also unlikely to be a beamed source as it is not discovered in the radio domain by either NRAO-VLA Sky Survey or Sydney University Molonglo Southern Survey. It is classed as a weak-emission-line quasistellar object and possesses broad absorption line features. A lightcurve from ATLAS spanning the time from 2015 October to 2017 December shows little sign of variability.

Original language	English
Article number	e024
Journal	Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
Volume	35
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2018.22
Publication status	Published - 2018

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@article{787e97f55a9e4d689b75fb162c167421,

title = "Discovery of the Most Ultra-Luminous QSO Using GAIA, SkyMapper, and WISE",

abstract = "We report the discovery of the ultra-luminous quasi-stellar object SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 with magnitude z = 16.9 and W4 = 7.42 at redshift 4.75. Given absolute magnitudes of M145,AB = -29.3, M300,AB = -30.12, and logLbol/Lbol,⊙= 14.84, it is the quasi-stellar object with the highest unlensed UV-optical luminosity currently known in the Universe. It was found by combining proper-motion data from Gaia DR2 with photometry from SkyMapper DR1 and the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer. In the GAIA database, it is an isolated single source and thus unlikely to be strongly gravitationally lensed. It is also unlikely to be a beamed source as it is not discovered in the radio domain by either NRAO-VLA Sky Survey or Sydney University Molonglo Southern Survey. It is classed as a weak-emission-line quasistellar object and possesses broad absorption line features. A lightcurve from ATLAS spanning the time from 2015 October to 2017 December shows little sign of variability.",

keywords = "Galaxies: active, galaxies: high-redshift, quasars: general",

author = "Christian Wolf and Fuyan Bian and Onken, {Christopher A.} and Schmidt, {Brian P.} and Patrick Tisserand and Noura Alonzi and Hon, {Wei Jeat} and Tonry, {John L.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Astronomical Society of Australia 2018; published by Cambridge University Press.",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1017/pasa.2018.22",

language = "English",

volume = "35",

journal = "Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia",

issn = "1323-3580",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Discovery of the Most Ultra-Luminous QSO Using GAIA, SkyMapper, and WISE

AU - Wolf, Christian

AU - Bian, Fuyan

AU - Onken, Christopher A.

AU - Schmidt, Brian P.

AU - Tisserand, Patrick

AU - Alonzi, Noura

AU - Hon, Wei Jeat

AU - Tonry, John L.

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - We report the discovery of the ultra-luminous quasi-stellar object SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 with magnitude z = 16.9 and W4 = 7.42 at redshift 4.75. Given absolute magnitudes of M145,AB = -29.3, M300,AB = -30.12, and logLbol/Lbol,⊙= 14.84, it is the quasi-stellar object with the highest unlensed UV-optical luminosity currently known in the Universe. It was found by combining proper-motion data from Gaia DR2 with photometry from SkyMapper DR1 and the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer. In the GAIA database, it is an isolated single source and thus unlikely to be strongly gravitationally lensed. It is also unlikely to be a beamed source as it is not discovered in the radio domain by either NRAO-VLA Sky Survey or Sydney University Molonglo Southern Survey. It is classed as a weak-emission-line quasistellar object and possesses broad absorption line features. A lightcurve from ATLAS spanning the time from 2015 October to 2017 December shows little sign of variability.

AB - We report the discovery of the ultra-luminous quasi-stellar object SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 with magnitude z = 16.9 and W4 = 7.42 at redshift 4.75. Given absolute magnitudes of M145,AB = -29.3, M300,AB = -30.12, and logLbol/Lbol,⊙= 14.84, it is the quasi-stellar object with the highest unlensed UV-optical luminosity currently known in the Universe. It was found by combining proper-motion data from Gaia DR2 with photometry from SkyMapper DR1 and the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer. In the GAIA database, it is an isolated single source and thus unlikely to be strongly gravitationally lensed. It is also unlikely to be a beamed source as it is not discovered in the radio domain by either NRAO-VLA Sky Survey or Sydney University Molonglo Southern Survey. It is classed as a weak-emission-line quasistellar object and possesses broad absorption line features. A lightcurve from ATLAS spanning the time from 2015 October to 2017 December shows little sign of variability.

KW - Galaxies: active

KW - galaxies: high-redshift

KW - quasars: general

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048751363&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/pasa.2018.22

DO - 10.1017/pasa.2018.22

M3 - Article

SN - 1323-3580

VL - 35

JO - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia

JF - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia

M1 - e024

ER -

Discovery of the Most Ultra-Luminous QSO Using GAIA, SkyMapper, and WISE

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