Quasars Near NGC 3628

MAR 05, 2011

Here is a picture of the galaxy NGC 3628, which is part of a pretty trio of galaxies called the Leo Trio because they are found in the constellation Leo. A long-exposure image of this galaxy reveals some much more distant galaxies and a trio of Quasars. A Quasar, which is short for quasi-stellar radio source, is an energetic and distant galaxy with a so-called active-nucleus. Quasars are the most luminous objects in the visible universe. The quasars in this image are roughly magnitude 19.5. The faintest star the average person can see from a very dark site is magnitude 6. A magnitude 6 star is 250,000 times brighter than these quasars. The picture shown here was taken with my 10 inch reflector telescope from my home near Princeton NJ. The total exposure times was 2.5 hours.

  --Bob