34 March 2014 sky & telescopeHunting Distant Objects
Let’s face it — “dark-sky paradise” isn’t the fi rst phrase that
comes to mind when you think of New Jersey. So a program
to observe quasars visually from New Jersey might seem like
a bad idea. Nonetheless, I’ve had a bug about seeing quasars
with my own eyes since the fi rst time I saw a photo of gravi-
tationally lensed quasars 20 years ago. This article describes
what happened when I fi nally got around to trying.
At 13th to 14th magnitude, even the brightest quasars are
barely visible specks, but there’s something appealing about
the fact that old photons, crossing space over unimaginable
distances and times, can end their long journey in my eye.
And then there’s the challenge of the hunt and the thrill of
victory, as weird as that may sound when the victory consists
of seeing a tiny speck of light.New Jersey
A few years ago I got serious about making up a quasar
observing program. The perfect starting point is 3C 273,
some 2 billion light-years distant in the constellation Virgo.
It’s the brightest true quasar in the sky, varying slightly
around magnitude 12.8. I saw it from light-polluted Princ-
eton in my 10-inch Maksutov after a night or two, without
much eff ort or suff ering.
That whetted my appetite, and I began my program. Most
of the others turned out to be much more challenging.Making a List
The fi rst step was to make a bright quasar observing list —
which turned out to be much more diffi cult than I expected.
Many online resources are available, but it’s quite a challengeObserving these exotic objects is easier than most people think.
Quasar Quest
BOB C AVA
BOB CAVAObs Quasars2.indd 34 12/23/13 11:34 AM