Quasar hunting

Anthony --

Excellent; you even recorded the companion galaxy to Mrk421.

Lovely image of Mrk205 as well. I hunted that one first 'cause I figured it would be easy to find nestled inside the galaxy's arm. (Of course the arms don't appear visually, leaving the two galaxies in the field looking exactly alike, so I still wasn't sure which tiny point of light was the quasar!)

I get a broken image for my favorite though (Einstein's Cross). Sadly, I think all the gravitationally lensed doubles and quads are out of reach visually.

Cheers,
-- Jeff.

Hi,

Also many AGN's including Markarian 421 and 3C273 are variable,

John

Hi Jeff,

Quasars and blazars are a means to be productive when even we have a very small windows of opportunity, for I can easily produce a result with 30-45 minutes total exposure time.

As for Einstein's Cross, the link is not broken (I do not have an image) but is simply there as a reminder to me that I have an outstanding item and it is something I will be pursuing with my AP305/f12.5 Mak-Cass once it arrives.

I am also interested in pursuing the only truly triple quasar found to-date as well as many examples of gravitational lensing involving AGN's and galaxies.

I use the imaging of quasars, for example, to assess my local skies and how deep I can go. Last year I was able to capture a mag 21.1 extragalactic globular cluster in NGC 185 which made me feel quite good since I did not really push the total exposure time.

Anyway, some patience as usual ....

Anthony --

Keep us posted on Einstein's Cross. Not really the same type of target, but what about Hoag's Object -- do you think it'd be within reach of the AP305?

Cheers,
-- Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Hoag's object is certainly on my list of targets as well. I first became aware of this wonderful object thanks to an article in Astronomy Now about two (?) years ago. I was so impressed that I spent a wonderful weekend researching ring galaxies and I have now identified additional and similar targets.

Here is the page I have prepared in anticipation: www.perseus.gr/Astro-DSO-Galaxies-Ring.htm .. a copy of the same webpage on my hard disk has additional targets identified.

There is so much interesting and twisted stuff that one can pursue to be amused a lifetime. Now you see in part why I do not spend as much time on the usual and popular targets (for better or worse).

Awesome Ring Galaxy list there Anthony -- although it's a bit sparse for us up here at 54°N.

-- Jeff.