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Session 50 - Active Galaxies.
Display session, Tuesday, January 16
North Banquet Hall, Convention Center
CCD images of seven active galactic nuclei were obtained during the period July 7-11 1995 with the 0.9-m telescope operated at Kitt Peak by the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA). Six of these objects (Mrk 335, Mrk 590, NGC 4151, NGC 5548, Mrk 817, and Mrk 509) are Seyfert galaxies; the seventh is the broad-line radio galaxy 3C-390.3. The objects were selected from the sample of eleven active galactic nuclei whose emission spectra are routinely monitored with the Ohio State University 1.8-m telescope in Flagstaff, Arizona. These observations mark the beginning of a continuing program to use the SARA observing facility to monitor the continuum emission from these eleven AGNs. Data from this program will be applied to efforts to place constraints on the sizes and geometries of the AGN broad-line regions by the method of reverberation mapping.
The BVRI images were obtained with an Axiom 2048x2048 zero-defect CCD array. The observing run was hampered by frequent scattered clouds, limiting the accuracy with which magnitudes could be calibrated. However, the wide field (9.38x9.38 arcmin) of the CCD array encompasses several comparison stars in each object field, and permits differential photometry to be performed even under relatively poor sky conditions.
Partial support of this work by the National Science Foundation, through the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, and by the Valdosta State University Center on Faculty Development and Instructional Improvement, is gratefully acknowledged.
