3C 273

Quasar

The first quasar ever identified and one of the most luminous objects in the observable universe.

Facts

TypeQuasar
Distance from Earth2,040,000,000 ly
Mass1.76 × 10^39 kg
Apparent magnitude12.9
Redshift0.158
HemisphereBoth
Discovered1963

3C 273 in context

Its mass is 884,866,767 times the mass of the Sun.

The light reaching us from 3C 273 tonight left it around 2,040,000,000 years ago.

Of the 9 quasars these pages cover, only 1 lie closer to us.

Its light arrives redshifted by z = 0.158, stretched on the way here by the universe's expansion.

It has been on record since 1963.

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