ancient light - Lynx quasar APM 08279+5255

[nytecam]

Perportedly the remotest object visible in amateur scopes, the grav-lensed quasar is 12BLY away at mag 15.2 [R].  The light arriving at the telescope is nearly three times older than earth !

I've added a timeline to my brief image below taken recently with my piggybacked DIY 10cm f/4.5 Lensless Schmidt + SX Lodestar-Cx2 cam as prime imager here from the London suburbs - don't let LP curtails my skywatching.  Hope it's of interest

[swamp thing]

Cool 

From your location (Know it well) that is very impressive indeed.

[Martin Meredith]

Excellent capture! I must give it a go sometime.

Martin

[JemC]

Nice

 I would not even know which direction to look for that  let alone actually find it

Love the timeline as well nice touch

James

[tingting44]

wow! 

[RobertI]

Very interesting and thought provoking - your timeline provides wonderful context - I think it should become the standard indicator of distance for all DS imaging!

[HiloDon]

Great Post, Nytecam! This is the kind of thing that attracts me to the hobby. Yet another thing on my list.

Don

[ollypenrice]

Another 'hats off' for something entirely remarkable and accomplished.

Olly

[Jim Steele]

Wow that's impressive - mindboggling even...

[laser_jock99]

Amazing stuff.

[Dave In Vermont]

Wow indeed! Very well done - love the time-line you added.

Far Out!

Dave

[Chinapig]

Inspirational.

Not quite all the way back to the big beginning, but pretty damn close!

Far out indeed...

[nytecam]

Thanks everyone for your interest and support - much appreciated   Been targeting this quasar most autumns since 2007 when high in the east in the evening - even with a tiny ETX-70

Inspirational.   Not quite all the way back to the big beginning, but pretty damn close!  Far out indeed...

Hi Chinapig - no you can't see the Big Bang as it's redshifted into microwave radiation but you can hear it if you detune an old TV off-station as a hiss !

Too late to make a claim - it went to Penzias and Wilson discovery in 1965 of the 2.725 K Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) which pervades the observable universe with their joint Nobel Prize in 1978    

[Mr Bergman]

Hi nytecam; interesting project! And a very nice presentation!    

[DaveS]

My mind is well and truly boggled.

[iksose7]

Great shot and a nice idea with the timeline! I've started researching single stars i would like to image lately as i have not set out to do just that yet. I'll have to add this one to the list!

[christhebrit]

Great photo, really informative.

I like to be reminded someimes just how short a time we've been around.

My favorite example is comparing us to the time the dinosaurs spent here, but I didn't know the fish were around that much earlier.

Just keep swimming!