A quasar is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by a supermassive black hole with a mass ranging from millions to tens of billions of solar masses, surrounded by a gaseous accretion disc. Gas in the disc falling towards the black hole heats up and releases energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The radiant energy of quasars is enormous; the most powerful quasars have luminosities thousands of times greater than that of a galaxy such as the Milky Way. Quasars are usually categorized as a subclass of the more general category of AGN. The redshifts of quasars are of cosmological origin.
An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that emits a significant amount of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not produced by stars. Such excess, non-stellar emissions have been observed in the radio, microwave, infrared, optical, ultra-violet, X-ray and gamma ray wavebands. A galaxy hosting an AGN is called an active galaxy. The non-stellar radiation from an AGN is theorized to result from the accretion of matter by a supermassive black hole at the center of its host galaxy.
3C 273 is a quasar located at the center of a giant elliptical galaxy in the constellation of Virgo. It was the first quasar ever to be identified and is the visually brightest quasar in the sky as seen from Earth, with an apparent visual magnitude of 12.9. The derived distance to this object is 749 megaparsecs. The mass of its central supermassive black hole is approximately 886 million times the mass of the Sun.
Seyfert galaxies are one of the two largest groups of active galaxies, along with quasars. They have quasar-like nuclei with very high surface brightnesses whose spectra reveal strong, high-ionisation emission lines, but unlike quasars, their host galaxies are clearly detectable.
A blazar is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with a relativistic jet directed very nearly towards an observer. Relativistic beaming of electromagnetic radiation from the jet makes blazars appear much brighter than they would be if the jet were pointed in a direction away from Earth. Blazars are powerful sources of emission across the electromagnetic spectrum and are observed to be sources of high-energy gamma ray photons. Blazars are highly variable sources, often undergoing rapid and dramatic fluctuations in brightness on short timescales. Some blazar jets appear to exhibit superluminal motion, another consequence of material in the jet traveling toward the observer at nearly the speed of light.
NGC 1672 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Dorado. It was discovered by the astronomer James Dunlop on November 5, 1826. It was originally unclear whether it was a member of the Dorado Group, with some sources finding it to be a member and other sources rejecting its membership. However, recent tip of the red-giant branch (TRGB) measurements indicate that NGC 1672 is located at the same distance as other members, suggesting it is indeed a member of the Dorado Group.
3C 295 is a narrow-line radio galaxy located in the constellation of Boötes. With a redshift of 0.464, it is approximately 5 billion light-years from Earth. At time of the discovery of its redshift in 1960, this was the remotest object known.
3C 66B is an elliptical Fanaroff and Riley class 1 radio galaxy located in the constellation Andromeda. With an estimated redshift of 0.021258, the galaxy is about 300 million light-years away.
3C 285 is a radio galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is located about 1 bilion light years away. It is a Fanaroff-Riley 2 radio galaxy and is hosted in a disturbed spiral galaxy.
3C 452 is an elliptical galaxy about 1.2 billion light years away located in the constellation Lacerta. 3C 452 is a Seyfert galaxy and a Fanaroff–Riley class 2 radio galaxy, with the radiolobes extending for about 5 arcminutes, which at the distance of 3C 452 corresponds to about 450 kiloparsecs. Fainter radio lobes extend farther away, at megaparsec scales, probably created during a former period of elevated nuclear activity. Diffuse X-ray emission has been detected in the radio lobes.
3C 371 is a BL Lac object located in the constellation Draco. With a redshift of 0.051, this active galaxy is about 730 million light-years away.
Hercules A is a bright astronomical radio source in the constellation Hercules corresponding to the galaxy 3C 348.
NGC 4388 is an active spiral galaxy in the equatorial constellation of Virgo. It was discovered April 17, 1784 by Wilhelm Herschel. This galaxy is located at a distance of 57 million light years and is receding with a radial velocity of 2,524km/s. It is one of the brightest galaxies of the Virgo Cluster due to its luminous nucleus. NGC 4388 is located 1.3° to the west of the cluster center, which translates to a projected distance of ≈400 kpc.
NGC 3862 is an elliptical galaxy located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. Discovered by astronomer William Herschel on April 27, 1785, NGC 3862 is an outlying member of the Leo Cluster.
NGC 3367 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Leo. It is located at a distance of about 120 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 3367 is about 85,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on March 19, 1784.
NGC 541 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Cetus. It is located at a distance of about 230 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 541 is about 130,000 light years across. It was discovered by Heinrich d'Arrest on October 30, 1864. It is a member of the Abell 194 galaxy cluster and is included in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies in the category galaxies with nearby fragments. NGC 541 is a radio galaxy of Fanaroff–Riley class I, also known as 3C 40A.
The Teacup galaxy, also known as the Teacup AGN or SDSS J1430+1339 is a low redshift type 2 quasar, showing an extended loop of ionized gas resembling a handle of a teacup, which was discovered by volunteers of the Galaxy Zoo project and labeled as a Voorwerpje.
AP Librae is a BL Lacertae object located at a distance of 700 million light years in the southern constellation of Libra. In the visual band it is one of the most active blazars known. AP Lib is surrounded by an extended source with a spectrum characteristic of a red-shifted giant elliptical galaxy. The derived visual magnitude of this region is 15.0, and it follows a radially decreasing brightness that is characteristic of an elliptical. Seven fainter galaxies are visible within an angular radius of 9′, suggesting it is the brightest member of a galactic cluster.
3C 120, also known as Markarian 1506, is an active galaxy located in the constellation of Taurus, at a distance of about 420 million light years. It has been categorised as a type I Seyfert galaxy and a broad-line radio galaxy. 3C 120 has been found to be a variable source in all wavelengths and hosts a superluminal jet.
An extended emission-line region (EELR) are giant clouds ionized by the x-ray radiation of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) inside a galaxy. An EELR can appear as a resolved cloud in relative nearby galaxies and as narrow emission lines in more distant galaxies.
