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At the Edge of Reality - Q 0957+561 Quasar

NickH

By NickH
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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NickH

NickH

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Astronomy Now featured this one as an object of interest, so I thought I would give it a go with the 4" refractor.

Imaged with EQMOD/EQ6/TMB 105 F6.2 autoguided by PHD Guide

CLS filter 5 x 4 min subs

Atik 314L

No flats/darks etc

Proper info link here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Quasar

Quasar

QSO 0957+561 A (SBS 0957+561 A) and QSO 0957+561 B (SBS 0957+561 ;) are the two components of a double-imaged quasar, meaning that an intervening mass concentration between Earth and the quasar bends light so that two images of the quasar appear in the sky. This is known as gravitational lensing, and is a consequence of Einsteinian warped space-time. The quasar lies at redshift z = 1.41(8.7 billion ly), while the lensing galaxy lies at redshift z = 0.355 (3.7 billion ly). The lensing galaxy lies almost in line with the B image, lying 1" off. The quasar lies 10" north of NGC 3079, in the constellation Ursa Major. The astronomical data services SIMBAD and NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) list several other names for this system.

The Twin Quasar's two images are separated by 6". Both images have an apparent magnitude of 17, with the A component having 16.7 and the B component having 16.5 . There is a 417 ± 3 day time lag between the two images.[1]

Lens

The lensing galaxy, YGKOW G1[2] (sometimes called G1 or Q0957+561 G1), is a giant elliptical (type cD) lying within a cluster of galaxies that also contribute to the lensing.

Suspected planet

A microlensing event in 1996 observed by R. E. Schild in the A lobe has led to a controversial, and unconfirmable theory that there is a planet approximately three Earth masses in size in the lensing galaxy. The speculation cannot be confirmed because the chance alignment that led to its discovery will never happen again. If it could be confirmed, however, it would make it the most distant known planet.[3]

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Starman

Starman

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Erm...

Checking the link, Einstein's cross is in Peg not UMa and the line...

"I Darryn found the blue sun of mistori and as i travelled away from the mistori sun i discovered the planet vulcan and its moons Micar, Eckloc, and Pareniztan. Once we perfected the art of interstellar travel we... " might give a clue to the nature of the page you're linking to... ;)

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NickH

NickH

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aha...will delete the link... (edit have deleted the link Pete refers to), and text...seemed a bit confused after reading it in the cold light of day..

Looked nice at first ....guess reading links at midnight is not a good idea :-)

Thank you Pete for the heads up... can't beat a good nutter website :-)

Makes the strapline "at the edge of reality" seem more pertinent though

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NickH

NickH

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ROFL...

Sorry for the link...it really is a complete bag of barry bazzers... reason I used it is it was one of the only images of the QSO which I could find last night that kind of matched the scale I was working at..

Pays to read stuff properly before blindly linking to it...I blame lack of sleep :-)

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Doc

Doc

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But on a more serious note it's amazing that you can see this quaser at all. 8 Billion light years is a long long way away.

Once the light path of the quaser is split into two due to the galaxy, is there then two quasers in your field of vision to photograph or do they then become one again after they have passed the source of gravitational lensing, I hope I have made this clear.

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Doc

Doc

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I understand now.

So would a very large professional telescope be able to take a photograph of this quaser and see two identical quasers seperated by just 6".

If so wouldn't that mean there are thousands if not millions of objects that are double images in the sky.

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NickH

NickH

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Well, the lensing needs a well placed galaxy in the line of fire so to speak, when the spectra and redshifts are worked out, then you may be able to conclude that "object x" and "object y" are the same thing... there are many examples, not sure if the sky is littered though

Gravitational Lensing

Good info

Here's a nice FOV comparison though, showing another QSO in the field taken. Am updating my CDC catalogues to take in more of this stuff...

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NickH

NickH

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Even on your photo took with a just 105mm of aperture the quaser looks elongated, a really fantastic thread Nick.

Thank you...I tried the FT dconvolution on the FITS data, and it looks like two objects, but still kind of "joined at the hip".. may try some focus magic and image it again, seeing not ideal... 6" should be easily doable with the scope..

All fun though...and have found my next FT target :-)

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NickH

NickH

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Okay...that worked...used just one of the subs (best one I think)..

Here's the split double...4" refractor

This kind of stuff, you really need rock solid autoguiding...and tack sharp focus..

post-14410-133877443985_thumb.jpg

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NickH

NickH

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It is indeed...

Pretty amazing if you think about the scale/size and distances involved.

Always like a challenge... this one should have been easier though, there is no reason why a 4" scope can't split them. Only issue is magnitude and exposure times/autoguide and seeing..

Something a bit different to the pretty pics though..

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Doc

Doc

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Is indeed.

I wonder if a 16" dob from a dark site would be able to see and split this quaser?

You have to try Einstein's Cross next Nick, that splits into four components.

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Doc

Doc

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Erm...

Checking the link, Einstein's cross is in Peg not UMa and the line...

"I Darryn found the blue sun of mistori and as i travelled away from the mistori sun i discovered the planet vulcan and its moons Micar, Eckloc, and Pareniztan. Once we perfected the art of interstellar travel we... " might give a clue to the nature of the page you're linking to... ;)

Just checking the position of the quaser on TheSky6 software Nick and exactly where your quaser is in Ursa Major it has the words Einstein's Cross.

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NickH

NickH

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Interestingly just looking at some Faulkes images of the Einstein Cross, and it's even a challenge for that scope...you can make our the cross structure on 20-200s exposures, but nothing really resolved.. ran a rotational gradient process on the galaxy core and then they pop out... (or what looks like 4 points in the right locations anyway)

All good stuff...and fun

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