"SBS 1542+541" - Quasar
The quasar with the designation "SB 1542+541" is located like many other "High Redshift Quasars" in the constellation Draco. Its redshift is given
with z=2.367, which corresponds to a light travel time of 10.9 billion years. But since the universe is expanding, this is of course not the actual distance,
which is instead calculated to be 18.8 billion light-years. Every second another 251,000 kilometers are added, so the QSO is moving away from us at
almost 84% of the speed of light!
The apparent visual magnitude is given as 17.1mag, but the quasar can reach up to 16.5mag at maximum. This would correspond to an absolute
magnitude of M= -26.1mag, the luminosity of 2.4 trillion suns. One may not imagine how it would be in the immediate vicinity of such an object.
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Due to the huge distance, even in my 20" telescope hardly anything of this immense radiation reaches the eyepiece. And so at 270x only a very faint
point of light can be seen, which is not even easy with averted vision. The QSO flashed out of the darkness several times, but could not be held for a
longer period of time.
