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Dual Quasar Compass Image

The Hubble Space Telescope photograph of two, closely spaced, white objects is overlaid with a color key, scale bar, and compass arrows.

This compass image shows a Hubble Space Telescope photograph of a pair of quasars that existed when the universe was just 3 billion years old. They are embedded inside a pair of colliding galaxies. The quasars are separated by less than the size of a single galaxy. Quasars are powered by voracious, supermassive black holes blasting out ferocious fountains of energy as they engorge themselves on gas, dust, and anything else within their gravitational grasp. The black holes will eventually merge.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    07:49:22.966
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +22:55:11.77
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Gemini
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    10.661 billion light-years (z=2.17)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    The HST observations include those from program 15900 (Hsiang-Chih Hwang)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    WFC3/UVIS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    July 06, 2020
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F475W, F814W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    J0749+2255
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Binary quasars
  • Release Date
    April 5, 2023
  • Science Release
    Hubble Unexpectedly Finds Double Quasar in Distant Universe
    Read the release
  • Credits
    NASA, ESA, Yu-Ching Chen (UIUC), Hsiang-Chih Hwang (IAS), Nadia Zakamska (JHU), Yue Shen (UIUC)

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Display), 920 × 920
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    tif (798.3 KB)
The Hubble Space Telescope photograph of two, closely spaced, white objects is overlaid with a color key, scale bar, and compass arrows.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Two filters were used to sample wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Cyan: F475W, Orange: F814W

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Dual Quasar (J0749+2255)

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 11, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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