QUADRUPLE QUASAR SDSS J1004+4112

25th February 2004

VC200L @ f9 1004x JG camera 55x 60sec

This gravitationally lensed quasar was first identified in the Sloan Deep Sky Survey in December 2003. The wide spacing between the two components B and C (14.6 arcsec) implies that the material in the lensing galaxy must be dominated by dark matter. (the closest spacing B-A is 3.7 arcsec)

The magnitudes (r) of the four components are 18.7, 19.1, 19.7, 20.5

The Quasar is 10 billion Ltyr and the galaxy is 6.2 billion Ltyr distance

Nature, 426, 810-812, 2003