Davy Kirkpatrick

The Discovery of a Low-Redshift, Red Quasar in the 2MASS Prototype Survey

A prototype camera designed to test the observing and data reduction techniques for the 2 Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) has been used to search for extremely red objects. Selection criteria based on the combination of near-IR and visible light observations help separate the vast majority of ordinary stars from more exotic objects. Visible spectroscopic observations for objects selected using these criteria in an area of just a few tenths of a square degree has resulted in the discovery of a quasar with a redshift of 0.147. The number of quasars expected at Ks in the 2MASS survey based on typical quasar colors and on the surface density of optically selected samples is ~0.17 deg–2. The 2MASS survey will result in a sample of quasars relatively unbiased by the presence of dust and will allow a reliable determination of whether there is a significant population of quasars with internal dust absorption.