3C 273

[andrew63]

Was wondering what is the smallest telescope anyone has seen this Quasar with?

andrew

[acey]

I've never actually looked for this object but the fact that it looks like a 12.7 mag star makes it accessible to small apertures at a dark site, or larger scopes at a light-polluted one. Dave Mitsky reports having seen it with a 4".

3C 273 With A 4" Telescope, 2005/05/08 - Forums - Astronomy.com - Online Community, Forums, Media Galleries, Blogs

Hard part is knowing which "star" is the quasar. Definitely the sort of object where imagination counts for more than appearance: the furthest thing you can see with a small telescope. There's a finder chart in Burnham's Celestial Handbook if I recall correctly, also here:

http://washedoutastronomy.com/content/3c-273-quasars-are-easy

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~zhuxj/astro/html/quasar3c273.html

[andrew63]

Yes, was looking at that chart yesterday which got me thinking - he comments that it's the furthest object you can see in a 10" telescope? But mag 12.8.

so could be see in a 4 or 5" in theory.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice info! I should give it a go when Virgo next returns to grace the skies.

[Hypernova]

I observed it with (in this order) 12" dob, 10" dob and finally my own 8" dob during the Friday night at SGL6. Just a small and faint star-like point but it amazing to think what it is and the huge distance to it

[Merlin66]

Maurice Gavin, in 1998, was the first amateur astronomer to measure the redshift of 3C 273. He used a 12" Lx and a grating spectroscope to determine z=0.16.

"Astrononomical Spectroscopy for Amateurs", p 119.