Related papers: The Apparently Normal Galaxy Hosts for Two Luminou…
We present first results from our study of the properties of ~400 low redshift (z < 0.5) quasars, based on a large homogeneous dataset derived from the Stripe 82 area of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7). For this sky…
We report the serendipitous discoveries of companion galaxies to two high-redshift quasars. SDSS J025617.7+001904 is a z=4.79 quasar included in our recent survey of faint quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82 region. The initial MMT slit…
We present the results of near-infrared H band (1.65 microns) imaging of 11 BL Lac objects with redshifts ranging from z = 0.05 to 0.9. We are able to clearly detect the host galaxy in seven low redshift (z<=0.24) BL Lacs, while the four…
We compare the host galaxies properties of BL Lac objects with those of radio loud quasars (RLQs) imaged by the WFPC2 on board of HST. The considered objects (z<0.5) are always well resolved and their host galaxies satisfactorily modelled…
Gravitational lensing assists in the detection of quasar hosts by amplifying and distorting the host light away from the unresolved quasar core images. We present the results of HST observations of 30 quasar hosts at redshifts 1 < z < 4.5.…
Luminous type-2 quasars in which the glow from the central black hole is obscured by dust are ideal targets for studying their host galaxies and the quasars' effect on galaxy evolution. Such feedback appears ubiquitous in luminous obscured…
Infrared images of the Q 0957+561 gravitational lens obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope show two large (\sim 5 arcsec) lensed images of the z_s=1.41 quasar host galaxy. Parts of the host galaxy are doubly-imaged like the quasar, while…
We present models representing the scattering of quasar radiation off free electrons and dust grains in geometries that approximate the structure of quasar host galaxies. We show that, for reasonable assumptions, scattering alone can easily…
We present deep imaging and spectroscopic observations of the z = 1.195 quasar 3C 190 and its immediate environment. The quasar is surrounded by an asymmetric low-surface-brightness envelope in which there are also several galaxies with…
We present the results of near-infrared H-band (1.65 microns) imaging of 19 steep spectrum radio quasars (SSRQ) in the redshift range 0.5 < z < 1.0. This sample of SSRQs is matched with our previously studied complete sample of 20 flat…
Observations with the Wide-Field/Planetary Camera-2 of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are presented for three radio-loud quasars: 3C 48 (z=0.367), B2 1425+267 (z=0.366), and 3C 345 (z=0.594). All three quasars have luminous (~4 L^*)…
Snapshot images of about 100 BL Lac objects were obtained with WFPC2 on HST. Sources from various samples, in the redshift range 0.05 to 1.2, were observed and 61 resolved (51 with known z). The high resolution and homogeneity of the images…
We report on the analysis of B band imaging data of 57 low-redshift QSOs and Seyfert 1 galaxies selected from the Hamburg/ESO-Survey, for which host galaxy dependent selection biases are greatly reduced compared to other optical surveys.…
We report on the optical properties of a sample of 30 BL Lac host galaxies in the redshift range $0.03<z<0.2$, as derived from HST observations. All galaxies are fully resolved in the WFPC2 (F702W filter) images, allowing a quantitative…
We investigate the properties of the host galaxies of X-ray selected (high frequency peaked) BL Lac objects using a large and homogeneous data set of high spatial resolution R-band observations of 52 BL Lacs in the EMSS and Slew samples.…
We present results of the hosts of four high-redshift ($z \approx 2$) and high luminosity ($M_B \lsim -28$ mag) QSOs, three radio-quiet one radio-loud, imaged in R and K bands. The extensions to the nuclear unresolved source are most likely…
Three high-redshift (z=2) and high luminosity (M_B < -28 mag for Ho = 50, qo=0.5) QSOs, two radio-quiet one radio-loud, were imaged in R, I and K bands. The luminosities, colours and sizes of the hosts overlap with those of actively…
The galactic environment of Gamma Ray Bursts can provide good evidence about the nature of the progenitor system, with two old arguments implying that the burst host galaxies are significantly subluminous. New data and new analysis have now…
We present the analysis of a sample of 20 bright low-redshift quasars (M_B<-23 and z < 0.35) observed spectroscopically with the VLT. The FORS1 spectra, obtained in Multi Object Spectroscopy (MOS) mode, allow to observe simultaneously the…
We present deep Chandra observations of PSO J231.6576$-$20.8335, a quasar at redshift z=6.59 with a nearby (${\sim}8$ proper kpc) companion galaxy. ALMA observed both the quasar and companion to be bright in [C II], and the system has…