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Quasar 3C 273

A two-panel annotated image of quasar 3C 273, taken by different Hubble science instruments. The top panel is a Hubble Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) image of quasar 3C 273. It looks like a bright white car headlight. There is a linear orange-white smoke-like feature stretching to the 4 o'clock position, an extragalactic jet launched from the quasar in the center of the black hole of an unseen galaxy. The bottom panel is a Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) coronagraph image of quasar 3C 273. It looks the same as the WFPC2 image, but in shades of blue. A black circle (labeled "core light blocked") blocks the glare of the quasar. Blue-colored filamentary material can be seen near the black hole. The extragalactic jet is still visible.

A Hubble Space Telescope image of the core of quasar 3C 273. A coronagraph on Hubble blocks out the glare coming from the supermassive black hole at the heart of the quasar. This allows astronomers to see unprecedented details near the black hole such as weird filaments, lobes, and a mysterious L-shaped structure, probably caused by small galaxies being devoured by the black hole. Located 2.5 billion light-years away, 3C 273 is the first quasar (quasi-stellar object) ever discovered, in 1963.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    12:29:06.7
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    02:03:09.0
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Virgo
  • 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.
    About 2.5 billion light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is 0.7 arcmin across (about 500,000 light-years)

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 image was created from Hubble data from the following proposals: 05099 (J. Bachall) and 16715 (B. Ren)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    WFPC2; STIS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    June 1995 and September 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    WFPC2: F450W and F606W; STIS: 50CORON
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    3C 273
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Quasar
  • Release Date
    December 5, 2024
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Takes the Closest-Ever Look at a Quasar
    Read the release
  • Credits
    NASA, ESA, Bin Ren (Université Côte d’Azur/CNRS)

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Display), 1084 × 1400
    png (2 MB)
  • Full Res (For Print), 1084 × 1400
    tif (2.07 MB)
  • Unannotated - Full Res (For Display), 1084 × 1400
    png (1.97 MB)
  • Unannotated - Full Res (For Print), 1084 × 1400
    tif (2.05 MB)
A two-panel annotated image of quasar 3C 273, taken by different Hubble science instruments. The top panel is a Hubble Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) image of quasar 3C 273. It looks like a bright white car headlight. There is a linear orange-white smoke-like feature stretching to the 4 o'clock position, an extragalactic jet launched from the quasar in the center of the black hole of an unseen galaxy. The bottom panel is a Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) coronagraph image of quasar 3C 273. It looks the same as the WFPC2 image, but in shades of blue. A black circle (labeled "core light blocked") blocks the glare of the quasar. Blue-colored filamentary material can be seen near the black hole. The extragalactic jet is still visible.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images were acquired by the WFPC2 and STIS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to a monochromatic (grayscale) image. For WFPC2, the assigned colors are: Cyan: F450W, Orange: F606W and for STIS, a blue hue was assigned to the image.

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

A two-panel image of quasar 3C 273, taken by different Hubble instruments. Top Panel: A WFPC2 image of 3C 273 looks like a bright white car headlight. There’s a linear orange-white smoke-like feature stretching to the 4 o’clock direction, an extragalactic jet launched from the quasar in the center of the black hole of an unseen galaxy. A color key at upper left corner shows the filters used to create the image and which color is assigned to each filter: F450W is blue, F606W is orange. A scale bar at bottom left corner is labeled "182,000 light-years"/"15 arcseconds." Compass arrows at bottom right corner show the orientation of the image on the sky; north arrow points to the 11 o'clock position; east arrow points toward 8 o'clock. Bottom Panel: A STIS coronagraph image is roughly the same as the WFPC2 image, but in blue shades. A black circle (labeled "core light blocked") blocks the glare of the quasar. Blue-colored filamentary material can be seen near the black hole. The extragalactic jet is still visible.

Quasar 3C 273 Compass Image

A two-panel image of quasar 3C 273, taken by different Hubble instruments. The top panel is a WFPC2 image of 3C 273. It looks like a bright white car headlight. There’s a linear orange-white smoke-like feature stretching to the 4 o’clock position, an extragalactic jet launched...

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Details

Last Updated
Feb 25, 2025
Contact
Media

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

Acknowledgment Credit

John Bahcall (IAS)

Image Processing Credit

Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

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