HIGH-RESOLUTION OPTICAL IMAGING OF THE GRAVITATIONAL LENS SYSTEM B1422+231

High resolution images of the gravitational lens candidate B1422+231 i n Gunn r and g have been obtained using the HRCam at CFHT. These image s have FWHM of 0.36'' to 0.46'', sufficient to resolve all four compon ents of the lens, which have a smallest separation of 0.5''. The four components are achromatic and have positions which are identical to th ose of the radio image taken by Patnaik et al. [MNRAS, 259, IP (1992b) ], further confirming the gravitational lens interpretation. Component A in the optical image is approximately 0.30 mag fainter than the bri ghtest component, whereas the radio image shows them to be of equal br ightness, suggesting that the source is variable. After subtraction of the components, a faint (r approximately 21.8 mag) galaxy is detected , which is most likely responsible for the lensing. The photometric pr operties and mass-to-light ratio of this galaxy suggest that it is pro bably an early-type galaxy at a redshift between 0.4 and 0.8.