Accurate Measurement of the Declinations of Radio Sources.

“…the 3C catalogue (Edge et al, 1959;Bennett, 1962). In California, John Bolton had developed the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Interferometer yielding radio positions with ∼ 15 arcsec accuracy (Read, 1963;Maltby et al, 1963).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The sequence of events that led to the 1963 publications in Nature of 3C273, the first quasar and the first extragalactic radio jet

et al. 2014

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“…Nearly two years would pass, and two other compact radio sources, 3C 196 and 3C 286 were also identified as galactic stars. Based on OVRO interferometer measurements which had a nominal 192 K. I. Kellermann position accuracy of five or ten arcsec, in his 1962 PhD thesis, Caltech graduate student Dick Read (1962) suggested an identification for 3C 273 with a faint galaxy, which later turned to be located about an arc minute east of the currently accepted quasar position. In May 1962, Maarten Schmidt tried to measure the position of Read's faint galaxy thought to be identified with 3C 273.…”

Section: The First Quasarsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The road to quasars

Kellermann

2014

Proc. IAU

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Abstract. Although the extragalactic nature of 3C 48 and other quasi stellar radio sources was discussed as early as 1960 by John Bolton and others, it was rejected largely because of preconceived ideas about what appeared to be unrealistically high radio and optical luminosities. Not until the 1962 occultations of the strong radio source 3C 273 at Parkes, which led Maarten Schmidt to identify 3C 273 with an apparent stellar object at a redshift of 0.16, was the true nature understood. Successive radio and optical measurements quickly led to the identification of other quasars with increasingly large redshifts and the general, although for some decades not universal, acceptance of quasars as the very luminous nuclei of galaxies.Curiously, 3C 273, which is one of the strongest extragalactic sources in the sky, was first cataloged in 1959 and the magnitude 13 optical counterpart was observed at least as early as 1887. Since 1960, much fainter optical counterparts were being routinely identified using accurate radio interferometer positions which were measured primarily at the Caltech Owens Valley Radio Observatory. However, 3C 273 eluded identification until the series of lunar occultation observations led by Cyril Hazard. Although an accurate radio position had been obtained earlier with the OVRO interferometer, inexplicably 3C 273 was initially misidentified with a faint galaxy located about an arc minute away from the true quasar position.

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“…In late 1959 Matthews began a program of position determinations in RA, and supervised a Ph.D. thesis program by Read (1963) for declination positions. He also made a working list of positions determined by others, including those by the Palmer group.…”

Section: The Discovery Of Quasars and The Agn Phenomenamentioning

confidence: 99%

The First 50 Years at Palomar: 1949–1999 The Early Years of Stellar Evolution, Cosmology, and High-Energy Astrophysics

Sandage

1999

Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys.

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PROLOGUE ▪ Abstract In 1999 we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the initial bringing into operation of the Palomar 200-inch Hale telescope. When this telescope was dedicated, it opened up a much larger and clearer window on the universe than any telescope that had gone before. Because the Hale telescope has played such an important role in twentieth century astrophysics, we decided to invite one or two of the astronomers most familiar with what has been achieved at Palomar to give a scientific commentary on the work that has been done there in the first fifty years. The first article of this kind which follows is by Allan Sandage, who has been an active member of the staff of what was originally the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories, and later the Carnegie Observatories for the whole of these fifty years. The article is devoted to the topics which covered the original goals for the Palomar telescope, namely observational cosmology and the study of galaxies, together with discoveries that were not anticipated, but were first made at Palomar and which played a leading role in the development of high energy astrophysics. The Palomar work first showed how optical astronomy would be the key to our understanding of observations made in other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, particularly at radio wavelengths and at X-ray energies. —Geoffrey Burbidge, Editor An account is given of the history of two observational programs set for the Palomar 200-inch telescope, one by Walter Baade and the other by Edwin Hubble near the start of the scheduled operation of the telescope 50 years ago. The review is partly an assessment of whether, and how well, these programs have been carried to completion, and partly an account of the response of Palomar to new discoveries and developments not foreseen in 1950. Stellar evolution, the discovery of variations in the metallicity of stars of different populations, the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, the Cepheid P-L relation, the redshift-distance relation of the expanding universe, and the extragalactic distance scale are discussed as they relate to the predictions for progress on the programs set out by Baade and Hubble. Not foreseen was the invention and development of radio astronomy and high energy astrophysics, leading to the discovery of radio galaxies, quasars, and the gradual realization of violent events, both in stars and in galaxies. The review is highly restricted to these subjects, covering only three areas among the totality of the work in observational astrophysics studied during the first 50 years at Palomar.

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Accurate Measurement of the Declinations of Radio Sources.

Cited by 32 publications

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The sequence of events that led to the 1963 publications in Nature of 3C273, the first quasar and the first extragalactic radio jet

The sequence of events that led to the 1963 publications in Nature of 3C273, the first quasar and the first extragalactic radio jet

The road to quasars

The First 50 Years at Palomar: 1949–1999 The Early Years of Stellar Evolution, Cosmology, and High-Energy Astrophysics

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