1999/06/28 by G. Lamer, A. M. Newsam, I. M. McHardy · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Active galactic nucleus #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #BL Lac object #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Gravitational lens #Host (biology) #Interacting galaxy #Type-cD galaxy #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02925.x
accepted for publication in MNRAS, 5 pages with 2 Postscript figures
arxiv created 1999/06/28 · openalex publication_date 1999/11/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The BL Lacertae object PKS 1413+135 is associated with a disc-dominated galaxy that heavily absorbs the BL Lac nucleus at optical and X-ray wavelengths. It has been argued whether this galaxy is actually the host galaxy of PKS 1413+135 or whether the BL Lac is a background QSO, gravitationally lensed by the apparent host galaxy. We have obtained deep high-resolution H-band images of this unusual BL Lac object using the UKIRT IRCAM3. Our observations show that the BL Lac nucleus is centred within 0.05 arcsec of the galaxy. Based on this result, we assess the probability for the lensing scenario and come to the conclusion that the disc galaxy is indeed the host of PKS 1413+135. The galaxy shows peanut-shaped isophotes, suggesting the presence of a central bar, which is a common feature of AGN.