[Previous] | [Session 138] | [Next]
A.W. Rengstorf (Indiana University), QUEST Collaboration
We present preliminary results from our ongoing multi-bandpass (B, V, and R), large-scale (194 sq. degrees) variability survey of a high-galactic latitude (10hrs < R.A. < 15.5hrs) region of the equatorial sky. Drift scan data has been acquired between February 1999 and April 2001 with a custom-built 16-CCD array camera on the 1-m Schmidt telescope at the National Observatory in Llano del Hato, Venezuela.
Using incomplete ensemble photometry, we assembled a candidate list of variable objects from the 1999 and 2000 epoch data. A subset of this list was examined for the presence of broad emission line features using low-resolution spectroscopy with the HYDRA Multi-object Spectrograph on the WIYN telescope. Using data from the February 1999 - March 2000 epoch, we find that approximately 1/3 of the previously cataloged QSOs in our scan region are seen to vary at the 95 discovered several previously uncataloged quasars, increasing the total number of known QSOs in the scan region. We present results from the addition of the 2001 epoch data to the variability-selected candidate list.
This research was funded by NSF grant #48-308-92.