It is shown that all of the 32 point X-ray sources which lie within about 10' of the centre of nearby galaxies, and which have so far been optically identified are high redshift objects - AGN or QSOs. Thus the surface density of these QSOs p similar or equal to 0.1 per square arc minute. Some of them were originally discovered as X-ray sources and classified as ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), nearly all of which lie near the centers of active galaxies. We demonstrate that this concentration around galactic nuclei is of high statistical significance: the probabiliy that p that they are accidental lies in the range one in a thousand to one in ten thousand, and apparently this excess cannot be accounted for by microlensing.

The galaxy cluster RX J0152.7 - 1357 at z = 0.8325 is one of the most luminous X-ray clusters known. It is elongated toward the bright, nearby, X-ray active galaxy NGC 720 about 14' away. At the same distance on the other side of that galaxy is an X-ray blue stellar object with a flux of 5.8 counts ks(-1) in the ROSAT PSPC detector. An intermediate-resolution optical spectrum of this blue stellar object taken with the Keck I telescope has resulted in the unambiguous identification of this source with a QSO at redshift z = 0.8312, the same redshift as the galaxy cluster. We discuss the implications of this discovery in the framework of the standard model for large-scale structure formation.

The aim is to investigate the region of the sky around NGC4410/Mrk1325 for objects which are physically associated with this active, double nucleus galaxy. We use archived data to study the placement, brightness, X-ray properties and redshifts of objects within 60' of the bright, central galaxy. It is found that pairs of quasars are aligned across NGC 4410 which, if ejected from it, have equal and opposite ejection velocities and fall very close to the quantized Karlsson redshift peaks for quasars. X-ray sources and Abell galaxy clusters at higher redshifts appear elongated along directions away from NGC4410.

NGC 3079 is a very active, disturbed galaxy which has been observed to have X-ray and radio ejections from it as well as an optical superbubble along its minor axis. Here we show that the brightest X-ray sources within about 40 arcmin are in large excess of background values. The X-ray sources are identified as quasars and AGN's which are aligned and spaced across the Seyfert nucleus to a degree which is unlikely to be due to chance. The famous double quasar which has been interpreted as a gravitational lens is discussed in terms of the the X - ray and ULX sources which appear associated with NGC 3079.

It is shown that there are at least 21 QSOs within 1 degree of the nearby active spiral galaxy NGC3079. Many of them are bright (mag<18) so that the surface density of those closer than 15 arc minutes to the galaxy centre is close to 100 times the average in the field. The probability that this is an accidental configuration is shown to be less or equal to one in a million. Discovery selection effects and microlensing fail by a large factor to explain the phenomenon, suggesting that the QSOs may lie in the same physical space as NGC3079. However, two of them make up the apparently lensed pair 0957+561A, B whose lensing galaxy lies at z=0.355. This problem is discussed in the concluding section.

Conflict in the Cosmos . Fred Hoyle's Life in Science. By Simon Mitton . Joseph Henry, Washington, DC, 2005. 398 pp. $27.95, C$37.95. ISBN 0-309-09313-9. Fred Hoyle A Life in Science. Aurum, London, 2005. 320 pp. £18.99. ISBN 1-85410-961-8. In this biography of one of the most famous and controversial astronomers of the 20th century, the author recounts the clashes between Hoyle and his critics along with the underlying science.

A strong X-ray source only 8" from the nucleus of the Sy2 galaxy NGC 7319 in Stephan's Quintet has been discovered by Chandra. We have identified the optical counterpart and show it is a QSO with $z_e = 2.114$. It is also a ULX with $L_x = 1.5 x 10^{40} erg sec^{-1}$. From the optical spectra of the QSO and interstellar gas in the galaxy (z = .022) we show that it is very likely that the QSO and the gas are interacting.

Quasar spectra have a variety of absorption lines whose origins range from energetic winds expelled from the central engines to unrelated, intergalactic clouds. We present multiepoch, medium-resolution spectra of eight quasars at z ~ 2 that have narrow "associated" absorption lines (AALs, within ±5000 km s-1 of the emission redshift). Two of these quasars were also known previously to have high-velocity mini-broad absorption lines (mini-BALs). We use these data, spanning ~17 yr in the observed frame with 2-4 observations per object, to search for line-strength variations as an identifier of absorption that occurs physically near ("intrinsic" to) the central active galactic nucleus. Our main results are the following: Two out of the eight quasars with narrow AALs exhibit variable AAL strengths. Two out of two quasars with high-velocity mini-BALs exhibit variable mini-BAL strengths. We also marginally detect variability in a high-velocity narrow absorption line system, blueshifted ~32,900 km s-1 with respect to the emission lines. No other absorption lines in these quasars appeared to vary. The outflow velocities of the variable AALs are 3140 and 1490 km s-1. The two mini-BALs identify much higher velocity outflows of ~28,400 and ~52,000 km s-1. Our temporal sampling yields upper limits on the variation timescales from 0.28 to 6.1 yr in the quasar rest frames. The corresponding minimum electron densities in the variable absorbers, based on the recombination timescale, are ~40,000 to ~1900 cm-3. The maximum distances of the absorbers from the continuum source, assuming photoionization with no spectral shielding, range from ~1.8 to ~7 kpc.

We present new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) NUV-MAMA and STIS CCD observations of the BL Lac object AO 0235+164 and the intervening damped Lyα (DLA) line at za = 0.524. The line profile gives N(H ) = × 1021 cm-2 and, combined with the H I 21 cm absorption data, leads to a spin temperature of Ts = 220 ± 60 K. Those spectra also show a strong, broad feature at the expected position of the 2175 Å graphitic dust feature at za = 0.524. Assuming a Galactic-type dust extinction curve at za = 0.524 gives a dust-to-gas ratio of 0.19 times the Galactic value, but the fit, assuming that the underlying, unreddened spectrum is a single power law, is poor in the far-UV. A dust-to-gas ratio of 0.19 times the Galactic value is similar to the LMC, but the AO 0235+164 spectrum does not fit either the LMC extinction curve or the SMC extinction curve (which has practically no 2175 Å feature). A possible interpretation includes dust similar to that in the Galaxy, but with fewer of the small particles that produce the far-UV extinction. The metallicity of the za = 0.524 absorber, estimated from the observed N(H ) and excess X-ray absorption (beyond Galactic) derived from contemporaneous and archival ASCA and ROSAT X-ray data, is Z = 0.72 ± 0.28 Z☉, implying in turn a dust-to-metals ratio of 0.27 times the Galactic value. If the dust mass density is the same in the za = 0.524 DLA system as in our Galaxy, only 14% (±6%) of the metals (by mass) are in dust, compared to 51%, 36%, and 46% for the Galaxy, LMC, and SMC, respectively. Such a dusty za = 0.524 AO 0235+164 absorption system is a good example of the kind of DLA system that will be missed because of selection effects, which in turn can bias the measurement of the comoving density of interstellar gas (in units of the closure density), Ωg, as a function of z.

The strong radio source 3C 343.1 consists of a galaxy and a QSO separated by no more than about 0.25". The chance of this being an accidental superposition is conservatively similar to1 x 10(-8). The z = 0.344 galaxy is connected to the z = 0.750 QSO by a radio bridge. The numerical relation between the two redshifts is that predicted from previous associations. This pair is an extreme example of many similar physical associations of QSOs and galaxies with very different redshifts.

It is suggested that many of the ultraluminous compact X-ray sources now being found in the main bodies of galaxies, particularly those that are active, like M 82, NGC 3628 and others, are "local" QSOs, or BL Lac objects, with high intrinsic redshifts in the process of being ejected from those galaxies. Evidence bearing on this hypothesis is summarized.

New spectrophotometric observations are presented for three blue stellar objects pinpointed as candidate optical identifications of ROSAT X-ray point sources in the field around the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548. They are shown to be medium-redshift QSOs. In combination with cataloged data on QSOs in several square degrees around NGC 5548, the areal density of QSOs immediately around the galaxy may exceed the average values determined from various surveys. This result, together with the configuration, suggests that these QSOs may be physically associated with NGC 5548.

NGC 3628 is a well-studied starburst/low level AGN galaxy in the Leo Triplet noted for its extensive outgassed plumes of neutral hydrogen. QSOs are shown to be concentrated around NGC 3628 and aligned with the HI plumes. The closest high redshift quasar has z = 2:15 and is at the tip of an X-ray filament emerging along the minor axis HI plume. Location at this point has an accidental probability of 2 10 4 . In addition a coincident chain of optical objects coming out along the minor axis ends on this quasar. More recent measures on a pair of strong X-ray sources situated at 3.2 and 5.4 arcmin on either side of NGC 3628 along its minor axis, reveal that they have nearly identical redshifts of z= 0:995 and 0.981. The closer quasar lies directly in the same X-ray filament which extends from the nucleus out 4.1 arcmin to end on the quasar of z= 2:15. The chain of objects SW along the minor axis of NGC 3628 has been imaged in four colours with the VLT. Images and spectra of individual objects within the filament are reported. It is suggested that material in various physical states and diering intrinsic redshifts is ejected out along the minor axis of this active, disturbed galaxy.

Imaging and spectroscopy with HST show that LBQS 0103−2753 (V = 17.8, z = 0.848) is a binary quasar with a separation of 0 .3 or 2.3 kpc. This is by far the smallest separation binary quasar reported to date. The two components have very different spectra, including the presence of strong broad absorption lines (BALs) in component A only. The emission-line redshifts, based on the broad high ionization C IV lines, are zA = 0.834 and zB = 0.858; their difference is 3900 km s −1 in velocity units. The broad C IV lines, however, are probably not a good indicator of systemic redshift; and LBQS 0103−2753 A and B could have a much smaller systemic redshift difference, like the other known binary quasars. If the systemic redshift difference is small, then LBQS 0103−2753 would most likely be a galaxy merger that has led to a binary supermassive black hole. There is now one known 0 .3 binary among roughly 500 QSOs that have been observed in a way that would reveal such a close binary. This suggests that QSO activity is substantially more likely for black hole binaries at spacings ∼ 2 kpc than at ∼ 15 to 60 kpc. Between 1987 and 1998, the observed Mg II BAL disappeared. Subject headings: galaxies: active — quasars: general — black hole physics — quasars: individual (LBQS 0103-2753) Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0424; vesa@ucsd.edu, mburbidge@ucsd.edu, rdcohen@ucsd.edu. Visiting Astronomer, Cerro Tololo Inter–American Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation. Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, Austin TX 78712; shields@bluebump.as.utexas.edu. Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainsville FL 32611-2055; hamann@astro.ufl.edu.

LBQS 0103-2753 is a binary quasar with a separation of only 0.3 arcsec. The projected spacing of 2.3 kpc at the distance of the source (z = 0.848) is much smaller than that of any other known binary QSO. The binary nature is demonstrated by the very different spectra of the two components and the low probability of a chance pairing. LBQS 0103-2753 presumably is a galaxy merger with a small physical separation between the two supermassive black holes. Such objects may provide important constraints on the evolution of binary black holes and the fueling of AGN.