Quasar "KUV 16313-3931"
The quasar “KUV 16313-3931” is located in the constellation Hercules, which culminates high above in summer. From the redshift of z= 1.023, the
light travel time can be calculated to be 7.9 billion years. However, due to the expansion of the universe, the QSO is moving away from us at a speed
of 182,000 kilometers per second, so the current distance to “KUV 16313-3931” is acutally an impressive 11.1 billion light-years.
The apparent brightness of the QSO is given in the catalogs as m=16.9mag, while its absolute magnitude is M= -28.3mag, which corresponds
to a luminosity of 18 trillion suns.
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Even in my fast 20” f/3 telescope, I could only see the quasar as a very faint star at a relatively high magnification of 380x. With averted vision,
however, the QSO was occasionally visible for longer periods of time, so that the sighting can be classified as positive.
When comparing with the DSS image, I noticed that the asterism to the east of the QSO has shifted significantly since the 1980s. Two stars in
particular have changed their position considerably - the arrows indicate the direction of movement as well as the original and current position.
Exciting stuff! :))
