3C 48

Quasar

One of the earliest known quasars, first cataloged as a mysterious radio source before its true nature was understood.

Facts

TypeQuasar
Distance from Earth4,130,000,000 ly
Mass1.99 × 10^39 kg
Apparent magnitude16.2
Redshift0.367
HemisphereNorthern
Discovered1960

3C 48 in context

Its mass is 1,000,000,000 times the mass of the Sun.

The light reaching us from 3C 48 tonight left it around 4,130,000,000 years ago.

Its light arrives redshifted by z = 0.367, stretched on the way here by the universe's expansion.

It has been on record since 1960.

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