gritty root
Located 2.5 billion light-years away, 3C 273 is the first quasar (quasi-stellar object) ever discovered, identified in 1963. 3C 273 is the brightest known quasar. This quasar's luminosity is about 2 trillion (10^12) times that of our Sun and roughly 100 times that of the total light emitted by average giant galaxies like our Milky Way! It is said that if this quasar were situated where the star Pollux is, it would appear as bright as our Sun.
Quasars, like all active galactic nuclei, are believed to be manifestations of supermassive black holes at the centers of distant galaxies. These black holes, some with more than a billion (10^9) solar masses, lurk at the centers of their host galaxies' gravitational potential wells. Their accretion disks, composed of interstellar gas, dust, and even whole stars, are heated to extremely high energies and radiate across the spectrum, from radio waves to X-rays.
Total integration: 8h 19m
Integration per filter:
- No filter: 8h 19m (499 × 60')
Equipment:
- Telescope: William Optics ZenithStar 73iii / ZS73iii
- Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
- Mount: iOptron HAE29C
- Accessories: Beelink U59 Mini PC, William Optics Flat73A, ZWO EAF
- Software: Nikita Misiura StarNet, Serif Affinity Photo, Siril Team Siril, Stark Labs PHD Guiding, Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA)
deep lake