QSO1723+2343 : 12.4 billion years ago

[FraserClarke]

Following on from the gravitationally lensed quasar at redshift 1.4, I decided to see how far you can go with 'small' telescopes. Attached is an image of the romantically named Quasar PSSJ1723+2343, which is at redshift 4.5 -- ~7400Mpc away (comoving distance, for the technical minded). The light has been travelling for 12.3 billion years, and we're seeing this object when the Universe was only 1.3 billion years old.

The redshift is so great that there is no light left in the blue part of the spectrum (and barely any in the V band either). The main ultra-violet Lyman-alpha line is redshifted to 668nm (redder than H-alpha), and there is very little emission to the blue of this (and none blueward of 500nm). Will make a colour image when I've sorted out the flats.

This image is 4x300s in R & V, and 6x300s in B, with an ST8 on a Meade LX200 16-inch scope. I tried this with a 70mm scope, but couldn't detect it -- I think mainly due to the light pollution we have in the centre of town. I'm sure from a dark site, you could do this with a 70-80mm scope...

My entry for the deepest "deep sky" object

[lukebl]

Impressive. My head is well and truly done in.

[rfdesigner]

Good shot!

Have you seen the new NIR pass filters?

i.e. pass longer than 680nm

I'm seriously thinking of getting one once my autoguiding is sorted out.

Derek

[NickK]

There's a couple of things I'm looking to chase on Sunday night:

HIP 60936 - one of the earliest known quasars

Baby Boomer Galaxy: 10h*00m*54.52s, +2°*34′*35.17″ so called because, unlike the Milkyway which produces 10 stars per year, the Baby Boomer creates 4000 stars per year.

[Beyond_Vision]

Mind boggling distances, that is one epic journey to reach your camera. Thanks for sharing it with us

Regards

Kevin

[johnh]

This is proper imaging, love the scale and ambition of getting to the edge of reality. Those photons must be exhausted when they got to the ST8.

John.