| 3C 48 | |
|---|---|
| Observation data (Epoch J2000) | |
| Constellation | Triangulum |
| Right ascension | 01h 37m 41.1s[1] |
| Declination | +33° 09′ 32″[1] |
| Redshift | 110,024 ± 0 km/s[1] 0.367[1] |
| Distance | 3.9 billion light-years (Light travel time)[1] 4.5 billion light-years (present)[1] |
| Type | E[2] |
| Apparent dimensions (V) | 0.6´X0.5´ |
| Apparent magnitude (V) | 16.2 |
| Notable features | First quasar discovered |
| Other designations | |
| PG 0134+329, QSO B0134+329 | |
| See also: Quasar, List of quasars | |
3C48 was the first of many faint, starlike quasi-stellar objects which later were named quasars.[3]
3C48 was the first source in the Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources for which an optical identification was found by Allan Sandage and Thomas Matthews in 1960 through interferometry.[4] Jesse Greenstein and Thomas Matthews found that it had a redshift of 0.367, making it one of the highest redshift sources then known.[5] It was not until 1982 that the surrounding faint galactic "nebulosity" was confirmed to have the same redshift as 3C48, cementing its identification as an object in a distant galaxy.[6] This was also the first solid identification of a quasar with a surrounding galaxy at the same redshift.