Observe quasar 3C273 in amateur telescopes

3C273 is near Eta Viginis (skymap).

3C273 finder chart for Star-hopping from Eta Viginis, circles are 1 degree, down to magnitude 11. (skymap)

A photo of 3C273 from the STScI Digitized Sky Survey with matching circle.

2003/5/21 22:30 EDT Despite the partly cloudy, hazy sky, and bright lights at my observation location in Green Tree, I was able to see the quasar 3C273 with an 8" telescope tonight around 22:30.

The star field was easily reached by star-hopping from eta Virginis. The quasar was invisible in a 25mm eyepiece. Then I switched to a 9mm eyepiece (135x) to darken the background and 3C273 became just visible. With averted vision I was able to see several more nearby stars and confirm the identity of the quasar.

3C273 looks just like a dim star (magnitude around 13). But this is probably the farthest object in the universe that I can observe -- an exciting but sobering thought. I stood by the telescope and let my eyes absorb the oldest photons for quite a while.