3C 273

3C 273 is a bright quasar in the constellation Virgo, identified in 1963 as the first quasar. Its proximity and brightness make it one of the best-studied active galactic nuclei.

Supermassive black hole: A black hole with a mass ranging from hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses. Its central black hole powers the accretion that makes 3C 273 shine.
Maarten Schmidt: The Dutch-American astronomer who identified the redshift of 3C 273 in 1963. His spectral analysis established that 3C 273 lay far beyond the Milky Way.
3C 273 jet: The bright, extended relativistic outflow emerging from the central engine of quasar 3C 273. Its changing knots let astronomers study jet structure at unusually fine detail.
Quasar redshift controversy: A scientific debate over whether quasar redshifts indicate cosmological distances or unusual local physics. The redshift of 3C 273 helped make the cosmological interpretation persuasive.
Accretion disk: A rotating disk of gas and dust spiraling toward a massive central object. Friction in the disk around 3C 273's black hole releases much of its energy.
Cyril Hazard: The British-Australian radio astronomer who obtained the lunar-occultation position of 3C 273. His precise position enabled Schmidt to match the radio source to its optical counterpart.
3C 273 host galaxy: The galaxy surrounding the quasar 3C 273, observed beneath the glare of its nucleus. Imaging the host separates the quasar from the galaxy that contains it.
Very Long Baseline Interferometry: A radio astronomy technique combining widely separated telescopes to achieve extremely high angular resolution. VLBI resolves compact structures within 3C 273's radio core and jet.
Relativistic jet: A narrow outflow of plasma moving near the speed of light from an active galactic nucleus. 3C 273's prominent jet is visible across radio, optical, and X-ray wavelengths.
Third Cambridge Catalogue: A catalog of radio sources produced by the University of Cambridge Radio Astronomy Group. The designation 3C 273 comes from its entry in this catalog.

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