3C 273

3C 273
Quasar 3C 273 taken by HST[1]
Observation data (Epoch J2000)
ConstellationVirgo
Right ascension12h 29m 06.7s[2]
Declination+02° 03′ 09″[2]
Redshift0.158339 ± 0.000067[2]
Distance2.443 Gly (749 Mpc)[3][4] (luminosity distance)
1.80+0.32
−0.28
 Gly
 (552+97
−79
 Mpc
)[5] (parallax distance)
TypeBlazar; Sy1[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)12.9[2]
Notable featuresoptically brightest quasar, first spectrum of a quasar
Other designations
PGC 41121[2] and HIP 60936
See also: Quasar, List of quasars

3C 273 is a quasar located at the center of a giant elliptical galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. It was the first quasar ever to be identified and is the visually brightest quasar in the sky as seen from Earth, with an apparent visual magnitude of 12.9.[2] The derived distance to this object is 749 megaparsecs (2.4 billion light-years). The mass of its central supermassive black hole is approximately 886 million times the mass of the Sun.

  1. ^ "Best image of bright quasar 3C 273". ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database". Results for 3C 273. Retrieved 2006-10-26.
  3. ^ "3C 273". XJET: X-Ray Emission from Extragalactic Radio Jets. 2008-01-11. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Uchiyamaetal2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Wang, Jian-Min; Songsheng, Yu-Yang; Li, Yan-Rong; Du, Pu; Zhang, Zhi-Xiang (January 2020). "A parallax distance to 3C 273 through spectroastrometry and reverberation mapping". Nature Astronomy. 4 (5): 517–525. arXiv:1906.08417. Bibcode:2020NatAs...4..517W. doi:10.1038/s41550-019-0979-5. S2CID 256707018.