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arXiv · astro-ph/0202122

A conspicuous tangential alignment of galaxies in a STIS Parallel Shear Survey field: A new dark-lens candidate ?

Abstract

We report the serendipituous discovery of a conspicuous alignment of galaxies in a field obtained through the STIS Parallel Shear Survey. This project collects randomly distributed 50'' x 50'' fields to investigate the cosmic shear effect on this scale. Analyzing the parallel observations having the Seyfert galaxy NGC625 as primary target, we recognized over the whole field of view a strong apparent tangential alignment of galaxy ellipticities towards the image center. The field shows several arclet-like features typical for images of massive galaxy clusters, but no obvious over-density of bright foreground galaxies. We also find a multiple image candidate. On the basis of the possible strong and weak lensing effect within the data, we discuss whether this could be compatible with a massive halo with no clear optical counterpart.

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J. -M. Miralles, T. Erben, H. Haemmerle, P. Schneider, R. A. E. Fosbury, W. Freudling, N. Pirzkal, B. Jain, S. D. M. White. 2002-02-06. A conspicuous tangential alignment of galaxies in a STIS Parallel Shear Survey field: A new dark-lens candidate ?. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361%3A20020426

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