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P. Padovani (ESO), AVO Team
The Virtual Observatory (VO) is now mature enough to produce cutting-edge science results. The exploitation of astronomical data beyond classical identification limits with interoperable tools for statistical identification of sources has become a reality. I will present the discovery of 68 optically faint, obscured (i.e., type 2) active galactic nuclei (AGN) candidates in the two Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) fields using the Astrophysical Virtual Observatory (AVO) prototype. Thirty-one of these sources have high estimated X-ray powers (>1044 erg/s) and therefore qualify as optically obscured quasars, the so-called QSO 2. The number of these objects in the GOODS fields is now 40, an improvement of a factor > 4 when compared to the only 9 such sources previously known. By going ~3 magnitudes fainter than previously known type 2 AGN in the GOODS fields AVO is sampling a region of redshift - power space previously unreachable with classical methods. I will also discuss other ways AVO is pursuing science with VO tools. The AVO was selected for funding by the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities, under contract HPRI-CT-2001-50030.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: Paolo.Padovani@eso.org
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.