This quasar (quasi-stellar object) in the early universe was powered by a supermassive black hole, with an estimated mass of 23 billion times that of our sun. It is in a giant elliptical galaxy with an active galactic nucleus at its core, producing vast amounts of energy.
The quasar’s light has been amplified through gravitational lensing, by a massive galaxy situated between us and the quasar. The quasar is estimated to appear four times as bright because of this.
The quasar was 12 billion lightyears away when the light was emitted, so the photons had been in transit for 87% of the lifetime of the universe when they reached Earth. Near-immortality. But although it took 12 billion years to reach my camera sensor, during the time taken by the photons the universe was expanding. The actual distance is therefore estimated to be almost 24 billion lightyears, because of this expansion of space-time.
I have previously (intentionally) imaged two quasars, but this is the most distant.
This inverted image measuring approximately 30x50 arcminutes is the result of 1 hour of luminance data capture from Horsham, on an evening in January 2025 North is to the left and the brightest star (HD 71952) is at the limit of naked-eye visibility from a dark site. The faintest objects are probably around magnitude 18.5 or so. A ZWO ASI2600 MM Pro camera was used, through an 8-inch Teleskop-Service Ritchey-Chretien reflector.
Date: 07/01/2025
Location: Horsham, West Sussex
Photographer: Graham Wilcock
