3C 279

Quasar

A highly variable blazar whose brightness can change dramatically within days, among the most studied quasars in the sky.

Facts

TypeQuasar
Distance from Earth5,400,000,000 ly
Mass9.90 × 10^38 kg
Apparent magnitude17.75
Redshift0.536
HemisphereSouthern
Discovered1965

3C 279 in context

Its mass is 497,737,557 times the mass of the Sun.

The light reaching us from 3C 279 tonight left it around 5,400,000,000 years ago.

Its light arrives redshifted by z = 0.536, stretched on the way here by the universe's expansion.

It has been on record since 1965.

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