A long way off in the lynx....

[skyhog]

This particular object has come up before but I thought I would revisit it for those who may not have come across it. I'm talking about the quasar in the constellation of the Lynx, designation APM 08279 +5255. At a distance of over 12 billion light years this will probably be the furthest object you will ever observe. Having read many observing reports , there are several that cite it being doable in a 12 inch. With this in mind I had a go the other night with the 12gps. I would say I wasn't able to confirm spotting it directly. I'm pretty sure the listed magnitude of 15.2 isn't helped by the fact that its a red star. I'm guessing it needs a bigger scope. I would be interested to know if anyone has bagged this. I put a DSLR on the scope to grab an image, which I have included for its location. I'm interested in the visual discussion hence my post here.

well worth checking out info on this Quasar, its a very interesting object.

[John]

It is an interesting object - thanks for flagging it up

The faintest point source that I've managed to see with my 12 inch dobsonian is magnitude 14.7 but I'm certainly happy to try and push my eye and the scope further as a challenge and give it a try !

 

[mdstuart]

Sky hog

I can get just over mag 15 on good nights with my 20 inch and town skies so I will have a go.

Mark

[John]

Interesting piece here from Sky & Telescope giving some more quasars to look for in the springtime:

https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/12-quasars-for-spring-evenings/

So far, I've only seen 3C 273 in Virgo plus a blazar that flared up a few years back but I can't recall it's ID

[skyhog]

16 hours ago, mdstuart said:

Sky hog

I can get just over mag 15 on good nights with my 20 inch and town skies so I will have a go.

Mark

Might just bag it with that Mark. Good luck. 

[skyhog]

14 hours ago, John said:

Interesting piece here from Sky & Telescope giving some more quasars to look for in the springtime:

https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/12-quasars-for-spring-evenings/

So far, I've only seen 3C 273 in Virgo plus a blazar that flared up a few years back but I can't recall it's ID

Yes, good article. I think you would need very dark skies and the right transparency to see this in a 12 inch scope. 

[John]

5 hours ago, skyhog said:

Yes, good article. I think you would need very dark skies and the right transparency to see this in a 12 inch scope. 

An interesting challenge would be to see the smallest aperture scope that can spot 3C 273.

In theory it should be visible with my 120mm refractor but just beyond the ability of my 100 / 102mm. It would be interesting to see if this holds in practice

 

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by John

[skyhog]

I've observed 3C 273 in an 8 inch sct over the years but it's not ideally placed from where I live. I would imagine if it were high in the sky from a dark site then your 120mm refractor would definitely be in with a chance. 

[mdstuart]

I had a look at this area last night but the transparency was not great. I manged to find the field of view fairly easily.

I logged the stars I could spot and managed to get down to 14.5. This was the star below and left of the red arrow above.

Looking at cloudy night, the m15 figure is a red magnitude so I think its not going to be possible for me from my mag 5 skies. 

Something to keep a note of for the first star party that I next attend!

Mark

[skyhog]

Great attempt Mark. I think the testimonials for spotting this with scopes in the 12 inch range must have all the ticks in the boxes, incredibly dark skies and transparency. I'm pretty sure your scope would nail this with ease in such conditions. 

[Nyctimene]

Never tried APM 08279+5255 after the report of Stathis Kafalis, a very experienced observer and ATM doyen, shown below. He used a 24" f/4.1 scope under NELM 6.3/Bortle 3 skies with mag 525x; the target was located near the zenith. He reports to have seen the quasar intermittently, estimating its magnitude not brighter than 17.The Ursa Maior double quasar he found comparatively "easy", and even split. Here his report and map/data (German only):

https://www.astrotreff.de/forum/index.php?thread/68063-monster-quasar-apm08279-5255-entfernungsrekord/

OTOH, another German observer, Achim Strnad, was able to spot the quasar with his 20", and found it easier than Stathis, estimating the visual magnitude at about 15.6 mag... (in the same astrotreff thread).

Stephan

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Nyctimene