Is it possible to observe a Quasar?

[stevetynant]

Apparantly the brightest objects in any galaxy and eminating from Black Holes at their centres. I just saw a Nasa image of a quasar originating from M87 but have never heard mention of any observations- is it possible for the amateur astronomer to see this phenomenum?

[Freddie]

2C 273 in Virgo is the brightest at mag 12.8 so should be visible in a bigish scope.

[acey]

Quite a few quasars are visible in amateur telescopes - the brightest is 3C 273 in Virgo which can be seen with a 6" scope. With a 12" you might manage 20. All look exactly like stars. A quasar is a very distant, very bright galaxy, the brightness being caused by an active black hole. Because they're so far they can never be resolved as non-stellar in amateur instruments.

M87 is not a quasar, it's a galaxy within the Virgo Cluster, which is part of the Local Supercluster of galaxies (along with our own Local Group). M87 has a "jet" powered by the supermassive black hole at its centre: the jet has been seen by some amateur astronomers but is a very difficult feature to see. 16" would be a realistic minimum for seeing it at a dark site, though people have tried and failed with 20" or more.

http://spider.seds.o...r/Misc/qso.html

http://stargazerslou...144200-m87-jet/

[DirkSteele]

Yes, but don't expect to be too impressed. The first detected quasar was 3C 273 in Virgo. It has an optical magnitude of about 12.9. The medal you get is you can claim to have observed an object that is about 2 billion light years away. I remember pointing my first telescope at it when I was a teenager just so I could say exactly that.

[stevetynant]

Thanks folks - I have an observing friend with a 16 Inch scope who we're planning a dark sky safari mid / end of August - think I'll put this one on my list of things to do

[Hypernova]

As said 3C 273 can be easily observed in moderate apertures. I managed to spy it in my 8" from SGL7 last year. As I recall there are several other "bright" quasars that are theoretically visible in amateur telescopes but I can't think of their names off of the top of my head. Plenty more to in reach if you're an imager though.

[acey]

As I recall there are several other "bright" quasars that are theoretically visible in amateur telescopes but I can't think of their names off of the top of my head.

Try the link in my previous post - it gives the 20 brightest quasars.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have spotted three so far, with my 8". Fun just because of the distances involved. OJ287 in Cancer was the furthest away, at 3.5 billion light years. Very hard that one, and I only could see it because it is at its maximum at the moment.

[acey]

Judging by the list, a particularly interesting challenge would be PG 1634+706 in Draco. It's nearly 9 billion light years away, and with a visual magnitude of around 14.5 it's in reach of a 10" or maybe an 8" under good conditions. It must surely be the most distant object detectable visually with that sort of aperture. I see from a search that an observation of it with a 10" was reported in another thread. First link below has a finder chart.

http://quasar.square7.ch/fqm/1634+706.html

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/153303-the-great-quasar-hunt-june-14-2012/

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thanks for the tip. Might try that one.