How far back in time have you imaged? - Forums

Topic starter

Jul 16, 2022

I noticed a bunch of "smudges" at the top of my recent M51 image and decided to work out what they were.

They turned out to be a galaxy cluster that is about 2.35 billion light years away.

I just wondered what the oldest (furthest distance) object is that you have captured.

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GalacticRAVE

Jul 16, 2022 · Edited: Jul 16, 2022

8.7 billion years, the famous double-lensed quasar Q0957+561 A/B

https://www.astrobin.com/swr9b2/?nc=collection&nce=4460

Björn Arnold

Jul 16, 2022

In one of my images, I wanted to see how far I could go. If your criteria is: „something has to be visible“, then my answer is 8.8bn Ly:
https://www.astrobin.com/40hqkc/

The data is from NASA extragalactic database.

Björn

falke2000

Jul 16, 2022

According to my Simbad database query script this quasar near M51 is one of the most distants objects I've ever imaged (but only as a side result though). I spent almost 15 hours on M51 from my bortle 6 backyard and I'm really amazed that I could capture a distant object like this. With a redshift of z=3.41, this corresponds to a distance of 22.4 billion light years, or a light travel time of 11.8 billion years.
https://www.astrobin.com/dwalbr/

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Pam Whitfield

Jul 20, 2022 · Edited: Jul 20, 2022

I went after the gravitionally lensed quasar APM 08279+5255 which is has a light travel time of 12.1 billion light years, currently about 23 billion light years. Supposedly it's the most distant object that can be seen with amateur equipment but maybe my information is out of date. The lensing makes it mag +15.2 so it's not even that difficult a catch.

Gravitationally-lensed quasar APM 08279+5255 (red-shift z = 3.911 = 12 billion light yrs)

I got the twin quasar as well to see if I could resolve them and grab another 'interesting' QSO - I seem to specialize in pretty boring looking images!

Not as far at 8.7 billion light years light travel time but not too shabby.

Twin Quasar - playing chicken with the Dawes and pixel limits.....

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GalacticRAVE

Jul 20, 2022

I am wondering how far could you get with modern standard photo equipment (say a DSLR and good tele lens) and a star tracker. APM 08279+5255 would be a good candidate!

Pam Whitfield

Jul 20, 2022

I am wondering how far could you get with modern standard photo equipment (say a DSLR and good tele lens) and a star tracker. APM 08279+5255 would be a good candidate!

Maybe so - it should be bright enough to be feasible with a reasonably dark site and good tracking/guiding. The Bayer matrix in a colour camera wouldn't be too helpful though...

Les Niles

Oct 24, 2022

What is it about M51? I started poking at the smudges in one of my early images and identified a bunch of galaxies, eventually out to 1.02 billion light years. Then someone mentioned a quasar SDSS J133004.71+472301.0 which I found as a tiny spec in that image... 11.8 B light years.