Quasar host galaxy images from the Hubble Space Telescope Archive

Abstract

We systematically searched the non-proprietary data in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Archive to identify low-redshift quasars that have been imaged with the Wide Field Planetary Camera-2 (WFPC-2) but that have not yet been presented in the literature. We identified five such objects. Since these represent a significant increment to the number of WFPC-2 imaged quasars previously presented in the literature, we here present images of these objects and a discussion of their properties. Of the five objects, two are involved in spectacular ongoing gravitational interactions. This brings the total number of quasars seen on WFPC-2 images to be in such interactions to 11. A further two of the five quasars have close companion objects (i.e. within 30 kpc) suggestive of a recent interaction. No evidence for an interaction can be seen on the fifth quasar. All five host systems are brighter than L_* in keeping with the results found for other quasars imaged with WFPC-2. Three of the five quasars are at least 2.5 mag brighter than L_* and are among the brightest host galaxies imaged with WFPC-2. The results widen the derived difference in the mean absolute luminosity of the hosts of radio-quiet quasars compared with the hosts of radio-loud quasars.