3C 273

3C 273

3C 273 is a very bright and special object in space called a quasar. It is found at the center of a big, round galaxy in the constellation called Virgo. This quasar was the very first one ever discovered!

3C 273 is very far away from us, about 2.4 billion light-years. That means its light takes a very long time to reach our eyes. Even so, it is the brightest quasar we can see from Earth. It shines much brighter than all the stars in its own galaxy put together!

Inside 3C 273 is a huge supermassive black hole. This black hole is about 900 million times heavier than our Sun! Scientists study this amazing object to learn more about the universe and big forces in faraway galaxies.

Amateur astronomers with telescopes can sometimes see 3C 273. It is the farthest object most of them will ever see through their telescopes. The quasar gives off strong radio waves and was the first quasar ever found, helping us learn how to measure faraway places in space.

3C 273 was named after its place in a list of radio objects called the Third Cambridge Catalog. Scientists Maarten Schmidt and Bev Oke figured out how far away it was in 1963. This discovery helped us understand these bright, distant objects for the first time.