Oral Presentation Astronomical Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting including HWWS 2013

What can a gravitationally-lensed quasar teach us? (#1)

Rachel Webster 1
  1. University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

The third gravitationally lensed quasar that was discovered is also one of the most unusual: in Q2237+0305 the lensing galaxy is ten times closer than might be expected.  Since it is relatively nearby, the lensing galaxy and its surrounds can be explored at much higher resolution than is usually possible.  This talk will follow an historical timeline, tracing our developing understanding of both the microlensing of quasars and the potential uses of lensing both as a quasi-high resolution telescope, and as a tracer of dark matter distributions.