Twin Quasar in Ursa Major

Dear Group,

Here is a beautiful example of gravitational lensing with quasar QSO
0957+561 in Ursa Major. I was disappointed by the poor transparency and
noticeable winds but I still managed to capture the two components which
are separated by a mere 6 arc-seconds and with respective magnitudes of
16.5 and 16.7.

For those interested, please see
http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-DSO-QSO-0957+561.htm .

Clear skies!

Anthony.

Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:

Here is a beautiful example of gravitational lensing with quasar QSO
0957+561 in Ursa Major. I was disappointed by the poor transparency and
noticeable winds but I still managed to capture the two components which
are separated by a mere 6 arc-seconds and with respective magnitudes of
16.5 and 16.7.

For those interested, please see
http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-DSO-QSO-0957+561.htm .

Beautiful indeed, as usual for you. But you are using up all of the
Quasars and by the time skies clear around here there will be none left
for the rest of us. Not that I have the skill to grab them anyway.

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

Im going to use this as a challenge to club members. Very nice -
Thanks!

klm

Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:

Dear Group,

Here is a beautiful example of gravitational lensing with quasar QSO
0957+561 in Ursa Major. I was disappointed by the poor transparency and
noticeable winds but I still managed to capture the two components which
are separated by a mere 6 arc-seconds and with respective magnitudes of
16.5 and 16.7.

For those interested, please see
http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-DSO-QSO-0957+561.htm .

Clear skies!

Anthony.

Anthony,

Yet another extraordinary image!

You have got to slow down in this quasar quest because
we are all running out of superlatives.

Ben

Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:

Dear Group,

Here is a beautiful example of gravitational lensing with quasar QSO
0957+561 in Ursa Major.

Could you explain the gravitational lensing part.
I know what it is, but how does it apply to your picture?

Yes, I am interested! Another from a brilliant set of images

Thank you.
Paul
"Anthony Ayiomamitis" wrote in message
...
Dear Group,

Here is a beautiful example of gravitational lensing with quasar QSO
0957+561 in Ursa Major. I was disappointed by the poor transparency and
noticeable winds but I still managed to capture the two components which
are separated by a mere 6 arc-seconds and with respective magnitudes of
16.5 and 16.7.

For those interested, please see
http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-DSO-QSO-0957+561.htm .

Clear skies!

Anthony.

On 24 Mar, 01:33, Anthony Ayiomamitis
wrote:
Dear Group,

Here is a beautiful example of gravitational lensing with quasar QSO
0957+561 in Ursa Major. I was disappointed by the poor transparency and
noticeable winds but I still managed to capture the two components which
are separated by a mere 6 arc-seconds and with respective magnitudes of
16.5 and 16.7.


Mere 6"? C'mon... 6" it's rather unchallenging, even for your AP.

Andrea T.

"Anthony Ayiomamitis" wrote in message
...

Dear Group,

Here is a beautiful example of gravitational lensing with quasar QSO
0957+561 in Ursa Major. I was disappointed by the poor transparency and
noticeable winds but I still managed to capture the two components which
are separated by a mere 6 arc-seconds and with respective magnitudes of
16.5 and 16.7.

For those interested, please see
http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-DSO-QSO-0957+561.htm .

Antoni,

Beautiful! Just to give us some idea about the visual capabilities of the AP:
Did you try to discern this quasar visually? Is it possible, or did you just
aim and shoot? I suspect 16.5 might be outside the visual range.

Clear skies!

Anthony.
--
I.N. Galidakis --- http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.com/

On Mar 24, 6:29 am, "Ioannis" wrote:
"Anthony Ayiomamitis" wrote in message

...



Dear Group,

Here is a beautiful example of gravitational lensing with quasar QSO
0957+561 in Ursa Major. I was disappointed by the poor transparency and
noticeable winds but I still managed to capture the two components which
are separated by a mere 6 arc-seconds and with respective magnitudes of
16.5 and 16.7.

For those interested, please see
http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-DSO-QSO-0957+561.htm.

Antoni,

Beautiful! Just to give us some idea about the visual capabilities of the AP:
Did you try to discern this quasar visually? Is it possible, or did you just
aim and shoot? I suspect 16.5 might be outside the visual range.

Clear skies!

Anthony.

--
I.N. Galidakis ---http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.com/

With a 160mm telescope?! This is a VERY challenging object in a 300mm.
If he saw it visually, he must have ducked into a phone booth and
changed into his red and blue uniform and cape first. ;-)

Unk Rod

On Sat, 24 Mar 2007 09:17:23 +0100, Iordani wrote:

Could you explain the gravitational lensing part.
I know what it is, but how does it apply to your picture?

There's only one object, but it is lensed into what appears to be two.
The quasar is 8 or 9 billion ly away, and there's an intervening galaxy
between it and us, too dim to see (at about half the quasar distance).
That galaxy is the source of the gravitational lens.

Just imaging the quasar isn't difficult, since the components are bright
and well separated (Anthony's image is about the sharpest I've seen from
a small scope; I envy his excellent seeing). An interesting amateur
project would be monitoring the photometry of the lensed components. The
source is variable, and by observing the light curves for a bit over a
year, it's possible to work out the actual difference in the path
lengths of the two components- an important measurement for cosmology
since it can provide a different way of measuring the Hubble constant.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com