QSO 0957+561 A+B: Twin Quasar

[Uranium235]

Tonight, while waiting more M42 to clear the tree I though I would have a little bash as something different, and see just how far this little ED80 will go. After a bit of research on tinternet I found the best candidate to be QSO 0957+561 A+B.

The twin is a gravitaionally lensed quasar with the lensing galaxy being YGKOW G1 (at 3.5bly), the lensing galaxy isnt visible but the the quasar certainly is - as it is split into two distinct blobs. Not much to look at, but at a distance of 7.8 Billlllion light years (said Sagan stylee) its by far and away the most distant object Ive intentionally imaged - its light is twice the age of the Earth. I was surprised the ED80 managed to split it as well, I would have thought this kind of stuff is the preserve of SCTs.

Its nice to do something practical for a change, its not every evening you go out for a visible demonstration of Einsteins theory of general relativity

Ive stuck on a couple of markers in case anyone else wants a go at it, NGC3079 is a really good pointer towards it.

QSO 0957+561 A+B: Twin Quasar

8x360 (L)

ED80 (0.85x), Atik 314L+, CG5-GT

Thanks for looking

Rob

Crop version

[lukebl]

Brilliant work.

I've been meaning to capture a quasar out of curiosity, and will definitely have a go at this myself. So even the lensing galaxy is 3.5 billion light years away? Wow.

[Uranium235]

Cheers Luke

Its such a long way it just boggles the mind!

[Jessun]

Fantastic capture. Well beyond what I would even google! Truly staggering. Thanks for this gem!

[foundaplanet]

Great piece of work..

[Taff]

Nice find Rob' that's what i call hunting the night sky' Thanks for showing.Mark

[prokyon]

Great! I never captured a quasar up to now. What a look into the past...

[SkyJamie]

Very cool Rob thats a great idea, it really is amazing to think how far back that light is from, and that the ED80 could hack it, i'll look at mine a bit differently now!

Jamie

[Daniel-K]

thats uber cool

[Zul]

Very nice!

[Fenriz]

Incredible, as you said just boggles the mind when you think about the distances involved.

[ncjunk]

Nice capture!

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[RogerTheDodger]

Awesome, I'll add this to my "one day..." list.

[AndyUK]

Good grief Rob - This is awesome... and, without any disrespect intended, it's an amazing capture for something as "simple" as a "bog standard" ED80 from a back garden in the UK. I take my hat off to you (and Skywatcher!)

[Uranium235]

Cheers Andy!

There arent that many amateur images of this one knocking about, so I thought it might be worth a try. I did a couple of calculations beforehand to see if it was worth it as the twins have a 6 arcsecond gap - which was just within the capabilities of the setup ive got.

Its a testament to just how good these SW ED80 scopes are (and the Atik of course!). 20 or 30 years ago this kind of thing would be unthinkable for the ordinary bloke in the street, its amazing how technology moves on.

Next, Ive got plans for something a bit more rare & unusual (a Blazar), but whether its do-able is another thing! It might be one for SGL7.

[Beyond_Vision]

Nice to see something different like this and as you say amazing to see that the ED80 has resolved it. Great stuff Rob

Regards

Kevin

[Tom OD]

Very cool, great work. Thats impressive with an 80mm scope too.

Tom.

[Uranium235]

Thanks Tom!

I cant believe that only a month ago I was on the verge of selling it. If I ever entertain that thought again you have my permission to give me a damn good thrashing...lol.

[Darth Takahashi]

Steady on old chap... that sounds too much like proper astronomy!

Nice capture, would give it ago if the clouds give me a break???

[hunterknox]

Give me this over a thousand M42s. Excellent work.