Optical imaging of the gravitational lens system B 1422+231

Direct optical images (Bessel V, R and Gunn i; average seeing of 0.88 seconds) of B1422+231, obtained in March 1993 at European Southern Observatory (ESO) (La Silla), have been decomposed by fitting multiple Point Spread Functions (PSFs). We detect the optical counterparts of the four known radio point-like components. No additional optical image is found, but due to the compactness of the configuration, our detection limit for additional point sources is rather low (19.3 in R). The deduced positions and photometry of the four optical components agree pretty well with the radio and IR observations and this study provides further evidence supporting the gravitational lens origin of B1422+231.