3C 273: Quasar in Virgo
May 2011 :
“How far can you see with that telescope?” It’s a question I occasionally hear from visitors who peer into my telescope at public star parties. The farthest my telescopes have taken my eye, I tell them, is 2 billion light years - to the quasar 3C 273.
Visually, 3C 273 isn’t much of a “wow” object. It appears as little more than a 13th magnitude star in the constellation Virgo. But what a “star” it is! Like all quasars, 2C 273 is the active core of a distant galaxy. There, a supermassive black hole swallows incredible amounts of gaseous material, in the process releasing as much light as 100 Milky Way Galaxies.
Your 2 billion light year journey to 3C 273 begins with the naked eye star eta (?) Virginis. The accompanying charts will enable you to star-hop from there to 3C 273. Along the way, you’ll encounter SS Virginis, a carbon star noted for its rich red hue.
As you gaze at 3C 273, ponder this amazing fact. Those photons striking your retina began their journey earthward during the Precambrian Age when the dominant life forms on this planet were microscopic one-celled organisms. WOW!!!
Your comments on this column are welcome. E-mail me at gchaple@hotmail.com.
