Quasar "8C 1435+638"
The quasar “8C 1435+638” is located in the constellation Draco. With a redshift of z=2.066, it belongs to the so-called "High-Redshift-Quasars". The light
travel time is around 10.6 billion years, but due to the expansion of the universe, the QSO is moving away from us at a speed of 242,000 kilometers per
second. The current distance is therefore actually 17.5 billion light-years.
The absolute magnitude of “8C 1435+638” is given as M= -29.3mag, which corresponds to a luminosity of 54 trillion suns. Even at a distance of 100
light-years, the quasar would still shine as brightly as our sun in the daytime sky. The apparent brightness appears to be variable in the range from 15.0mag
to 16.6mag.
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In my 20” Dobsonian telescope, even at a magnification of 380x, the QSO was only visible as an extremely faint star that I could only see flashing out
of the darkness a few times. It is quite possible that the quasar was just at its minimum.
Thanks to a somewhat brighter star in the immediate vicinity, the position can be verified quite well, which makes the observation a little easier.
