The Double Quasar

[martin_h]

QUASAR QSO 0957+561 is also known as the Double Quasar.  It is, in fact, a single quasar!  Its light is being gravitationally lensed by a massive galaxy situated half-way between the quasar and Earth, causing the quasar image to appear twice. The discovery of this object in 1979 provided the first direct evidence for the gravitational lensing effect predicted by Einstein, who concluded his 1936 paper  Lens-Like Action of a Star by the Deviation of Light in the Gravitational Field saying "… there is no great chance of observing this phenomenon..."  

The Quasar lies about 14 Billion light years from earth.

 

[Allinthehead]

Fascinating. Great capture

[nucdoc]

Cool, very nice image

 

[pietervdv]

Very refreshing and interesting to see this kind of image. A nice change from all those flashy narrowband hubble palette pictures...

I was thinking about the 14 billion light year distance... Since the observable universe is only 13.8 billion ly, we should not be able to see this?

There are some different distances found on the net, I found a redshift 1.413, so 7.8 billion ly. In any case it is still mind boggling to imagine how bright

this oject must be...

 

Regards,

 

Pieter

Edited February 5, 2017 by pietervdv

[cfpendock]

Staggering!

Chris

[martin_h]

1 hour ago, pietervdv said:

Very refreshing and interesting to see this kind of image. A nice change from all those flashy narrowband hubble palette pictures...

I was thinking about the 14 billion light year distance... Since the observable universe is only 13.8 billion ly, we should not be able to see this?

There are some different distances found on the net, I found a redshift 1.413, so 7.8 billion ly. In any I'mcase it is still mind boggling to imagine how bright

this oject must be...

 

Regards,

 

Pieter

Yeah I know, I found all sorts of posted distances, I stand to be corrected.

The quasar lies at redshift z = 1.41 (8.7 billion ly)

Edited February 5, 2017 by martin_h

[coatesg]

40 minutes ago, martin_h said:

The quasar lies at redshift z = 1.41 (8.7 billion ly)

Depending on your other cosmological parameters ;-) 

Nice image - this is a really interesting object - first ever gravitationally lensed quasar discovered (one of discoverers was one of my lecturers too...!). There is a difference in light travel time of about 14 months too, so changes in brightness get echoed by the other one later on.

[martin_h]

2 hours ago, coatesg said:

Depending on your other cosmological parameters ;-) 

Nice image - this is a really interesting object - first ever gravitationally lensed quasar discovered (one of discoverers was one of my lecturers too...!). There is a difference in light travel time of about 14 months too, so changes in brightness get echoed by the other one later on.

Yes the lensing galaxy is not dead in line which causes a 14 month time lag, which helped them deduce it was infact the same object, they observed activity on one component, then 14 months later the exact same activity was observed on the other which led them to deduce they were observing the same object!

Edited February 5, 2017 by martin_h

[PatrickGilliland]

Great spot and very interesting highlight to the image.

Paddy

[Knight of Clear Skies]

At about mag 17 it's detectable with some pretty modest equipment too.

[Tom OD]

On ‎05‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 10:46, martin_h said:

Yeah I know, I found all sorts of posted distances, I stand to be corrected.

The quasar lies at redshift z = 1.41 (8.7 billion ly)

Whew, I thought I was about ask a silly question. Thanks for the answers.

Super image by the way.

Tom

[Uranium235]

On 07/02/2017 at 12:16, Knight of Clear Skies said:

At about mag 17 it's detectable with some pretty modest equipment too.

Yep, I managed this one with an 80ED and 314L+ a few years ago. Im hoping to split it a bit better with the 200pds next time out.

Great image btw @martin_h

[Astroscot2]

Very nice image - I my have go for this tonight with the full moon getting in the way.

[laudropb]

Great capture and very nice write up.

[theo]

Great image and pretty amazing as an amateur to be able to image such a distant object and see the effects of gravitational lensing!!

Pete