List of quasars


This is a list of quasars.
Proper naming of quasars are by Catalogue Entry, Qxxxx±yy using B1950 coordinates, or QSO Jxxxx±yyyy using J2000 coordinates. They may also use the prefix QSR. There are currently no quasars that are visible to the naked eye.

List of quasars

This is a list of exceptional quasars for characteristics otherwise not separately listed
QuasarNotes
Twin QuasarAssociated with a possible planet microlensing event in the gravitational lens galaxy that is doubling the Twin Quasar's image.
QSR J1819+3845Proved interstellar scintillation due to the interstellar medium.
CTA-102In 1965, Soviet astronomer Nikolai S. Kardashev declared that this quasar was sending coded messages from an alien civilization.
CID-42Its Supermassive black hole is being ejected and will one day become a displaced quasar.
TON 618TON 618 is a very distant and extremely luminous quasar—technically, a hyperluminous, broad-absorption line, radio-loud quasar—located near the North Galactic Pole in the constellation Canes Venatici.

List of named quasars

This is a list of quasars, with a common name, instead of a designation from a survey, catalogue or list.
QuasarOrigin of nameNotes
Twin QuasarFrom the fact that two images of the same gravitationally lensed quasar is produced.
Einstein CrossFrom the fact that gravitational lensing of the quasar forms a near perfect Einstein cross, a concept in gravitational lensing.
Triple QuasarFrom the fact that there are three bright images of the same gravitationally lensed quasar.There are actually four images; the fourth is faint.
CloverleafFrom its appearance having similarity to the leaf of a clover. It has been gravitationally lensed into four images, of roughly similar appearance.
Teacup galaxyThe name comes from the shape of the extended emission, which is shaped like the handle of a teacup. The handle is a bubble shaped by quasar winds or small-scale radio jets.Low redshift, highly obscured type 2 quasar.

List of multiply imaged quasars

This is a list of quasars that as a result of gravitational lensing appear as multiple images on Earth.
QuasarImagesLensNotes
Twin Quasar2YGKOW G1First gravitationally lensed object discovered
Triple Quasar 4Originally discovered as 3 lensed images, the fourth image is faint. It was the second gravitationally lensed quasar discovered.
Einstein Cross4Huchra's LensFirst Einstein Cross discovered
RX J1131-1231's quasar4RX J1131-1231's elliptical galaxyRX J1131-1231 is the name of the complex, quasar, host galaxy and lensing galaxy, together. The quasar's host galaxy is also lensed into a Chwolson ring about the lensing galaxy. The four images of the quasar are embedded in the ring image.
Cloverleaf4Brightest known high-redshift source of CO emission
QSO B1359+1546CLASS B1359+154 and three more galaxiesFirst sextuply-imaged galaxy
SDSS J1004+41125Galaxy cluster at z = 0.68First quasar discovered to be multiply image-lensed by a galaxy cluster and currently the third largest quasar lens with the separation between images of 15 ″
SDSS J1029+26233Galaxy cluster at z = 0.6The current largest-separatioon quasar lens with 22.6 ″ separation between furthest images
SDSS J2222+27456Galaxy cluster at z = 0.49First sextuply-lensed galaxy Third quasar discovered to be lensed by a galaxy cluster. Quasar located at z = 2.82

List of visual quasar associations

This is a list of double quasars, triple quasars, and the like, where quasars are close together in line-of-sight, but not physically related.

List of physical quasar groups

This is a list of binary quasars, trinary quasars, and the like, where quasars are physically close to each other.
QuasarsCountNotes
quasars of SDSS J0841+3921 protocluster4First quasar quartet discovered.
LBQS 1429-008 3First quasar triplet discovered.
It was first discovered as a binary quasar, before the third quasar was found.
QQ2345+007

Large Quasar Groups

s are bound to a filament of mass, and not directly bound to each other.
LQGCountNotes
Webster LQG
5First LQG discovered. At the time of its discovery, it was the largest structure known.
Huge-LQG
73The largest structure known in the observable universe, as of 2013.

List of quasars with apparent superluminal jet motion

This is a list of quasars with jets that appear to be superluminal due to relativistic effects and line-of-sight orientation. Such quasars are sometimes referred to as superluminal quasars.
QuasarSuperluminalityNotes
3C 2794cFirst quasar discovered with superluminal jets.
3C 1797.6cFifth discovered, first with double lobes
3C 273This is also the first quasar ever identified.
3C 216
3C 345
3C 380
4C 69.21
8C 1928+738
PKS 0637-752
QSO B1642+690

Quasars that have a recessional velocity greater than the speed of light are very common. Any quasar with z>1 is going away from us in excess of c. Early attempts to explain superlumic quasars resulted in convoluted explanations with a limit of z = 2.326, or in the extreme z<2.4. z = 1 means a redshift indicating travel away from us at the speed of light. The majority of quasars lie between z = 2 and z = 5.

Firsts

Extremes

First quasars found

Most distant quasars

The first time that quasars became the most distant object in the universe was in 1964. Quasars would remain the most distant objects in the universe until 1997, when a pair of non-quasar galaxies would take the title.

Most powerful quasars

RankQuasarDataNotes
1SMSS J215728.21-360215.1It has an intrinsic bolometric luminosity of ~ 6.9 × 1014 Suns or ~ 2.6 × 1041 watts
2HS 1946+7658It has an intrinsic bolometric luminosity in excess of 1014 Suns or 1041 watts
3SDSS J155152.46+191104.0Has over 1041 watts luminosity
4HS 1700+6416Has a luminosity of over 1041 watts
5SDSS J010013.02+280225.8Has a luminosity of around 1.62 × 1041 watts
6SBS 1425+606Has a luminosity of over 1041 watts – optically brightest for z>3
7SDSS J074521.78+473436.2
8S5 0014+813
7SDSS J160455.39+381201.6z = 2.51, M = 15.84
9SDSS J085543.40-001517.7

Footnotes

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