Hubble image archive

Quasar 3C 273

Caption 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,...

Date
Dec 5, 2024
Mission
Hubble Space Telescope
Archive ID
hubblesite-images-2024-024-01jd56ey1tg0g3jz4bz4pm5ydy
By

Caption

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.

Credits

Image

NASA, ESA, Bin Ren (Université Côte d’Azur/CNRS)

Acknowledgment

John Bahcall (IAS)

Image Processing

Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Keywords

  • Active Galaxies/Quasars

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Source

Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.

View on NASA.gov

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