3C 273

3C 273
Hubble ESA · CC BY 2.0 · source
Name	3C 273

3C 273 is a quasar located in the constellation Virgo, approximately 2.4 billion light-years away from Earth. It is one of the brightest and most well-studied quasars in the universe, with a luminosity that is hundreds of times greater than that of the Milky Way. The discovery of 3C 273 is attributed to Maarten Schmidt, a Dutch-American astronomer who worked at the California Institute of Technology and made the discovery using the Palomar Observatory. This discovery was a major breakthrough in the field of astrophysics, and it has been extensively studied by NASA, the European Space Agency, and other space agencies.

Introduction

3C 273 is a radio-loud quasar, meaning that it emits a significant amount of radio waves in addition to visible light. It is classified as a blazar, a type of active galactic nucleus that is characterized by its high-energy emission and rapid variability. The study of 3C 273 has been conducted by numerous astronomers and astrophysicists, including Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Arthur Eddington, and Stephen Hawking, who have all made significant contributions to our understanding of black holes and cosmology. The Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory have also been used to study 3C 273, providing valuable insights into its physical properties and behavior.

Discovery and Observation

The discovery of 3C 273 was made in 1959 by Maarten Schmidt using the Palomar Observatory. At the time, it was the most distant object ever observed, with a redshift of 0.158. The discovery was announced in a paper published in the journal Nature, and it sparked a significant amount of interest in the astronomical community. Since then, 3C 273 has been extensively studied using a variety of telescopes and spacecraft, including the Very Large Array, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The European Southern Observatory and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have also played important roles in the study of 3C 273.

Physical Characteristics

3C 273 is a massive object, with a mass that is estimated to be around 886 million solar masses. It is believed to be a supermassive black hole that is surrounded by a disk of hot, dense gas. The temperature of the disk is estimated to be around 10,000 Kelvin, and it is thought to be the source of the quasar's intense luminosity. The magnetic field of 3C 273 is also extremely strong, with a strength that is estimated to be around 10^4 tesla. The Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have made significant contributions to our understanding of the physical properties of 3C 273.

Variability and Emission

3C 273 is a highly variable object, with its luminosity changing by as much as 50% over a period of just a few days. This variability is thought to be caused by changes in the accretion rate of the supermassive black hole, which can lead to changes in the temperature and density of the surrounding disk. The emission spectrum of 3C 273 is also highly complex, with emission lines that are characteristic of ionized gas and dust. The Infrared Astronomical Satellite and the International Ultraviolet Explorer have been used to study the infrared and ultraviolet emission of 3C 273, providing valuable insights into its physical properties and behavior. The University of California, Berkeley and the University of Cambridge have also made significant contributions to our understanding of the variability and emission of 3C 273.

Distance and Redshift

3C 273 is located at a distance of approximately 2.4 billion light-years from Earth, which means that we see it as it appeared in the distant past. The redshift of 3C 273 is 0.158, which corresponds to a recession velocity of around 47,000 kilometers per second. This recession velocity is a result of the expansion of the universe, which was first proposed by Georges Lemaitre and Edwin Hubble. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey have provided valuable insights into the large-scale structure of the universe and the distribution of galaxies.

Scientific Significance

The study of 3C 273 has been highly significant for our understanding of the universe and the behavior of supermassive black holes. It has provided valuable insights into the physical properties of quasars and the mechanisms that drive their luminosity. The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to several scientists who have made significant contributions to our understanding of black holes and cosmology, including Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Roger Penrose. The Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics have also played important roles in the study of 3C 273 and the universe. The American Astronomical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society have recognized the significance of 3C 273 and its importance for our understanding of the universe. Category:Astronomical objects