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A concentration of quasars in the Sculptor region of the sky

Nature volume 302, pages 397–399 (1983)Cite this article

Abstract

The strip of sky 5° wide and centred at dec −40° is the largest area of the sky which has been completely searched for quasars1. The strip is long and narrow and runs from RA≲22 h to RA≳4 h. Near the centre of the strip, at 0 h<1 h, there is an evident concentration of quasars. Osmer2 and Smith3 have argued that this concentration is caused by the sensitivity of the plates taken at larger and smaller right ascensions being less than those taken in 0h<RA<1 h region. In the original report of the survey, there was no note that any regions showed systematically poorer seeing or lower sky-density for a given exposure. It seems necessary to substantiate such an a posteriori hypothesis with quantitative systematic differences in the plate quality. In this report the reality of this concentration has been tested by asking whether all quasars show this concentration or only certain kinds of quasars.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mount Wilson and Las Campanas Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Pasadena, California, 91101, USA

    Halton Arp

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  1. Halton Arp
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Arp, H. A concentration of quasars in the Sculptor region of the sky. Nature 302, 397–399 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/302397a0

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