Twin Quasar;
Crescent Moon, Hyades, Mars, & Pleiades
Posted: 9 April 2019
On the previous session I attempted to image the Twin Quasar in Ursa Major (RA 10h 01m 20.99s, DEC +55° 53' 56.5", Magnitude +16.7). I missed it due to a telescope pointing error. However, the Quasar is near the galaxy NGC3079, which I did image that night. In rechecking that image I discovered that I had indeed captured the Twin Quasar, as seen in the inset:
The Twin Quasar is a result of gravitational lensing of a single distant quasar caused by an intervening galaxy (not visible in the image).
Monday, 8 April, 2019, had unforecasted clouds, so did not open the observatory.
I did try to photograph the crescent Moon with Earthshine near the Hyades, Mars, & the Pleiades. Due to the clouds I was not able to get a very good photograph.
This is a handheld photo taken with the D850 DSLR, f/4.5, 1/20sec, ISO 6400, FL 102mm:
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