Quasars

sharpiel · #1 20-10-2018, 08:03 PM

Watching a doco on quasars atm. Some lovely professional pics of the interstellar jets produced. Got me wondering whether such results are within the reach of amateurs... With what minimum instrumentation... Anyone with results to share?

Atmos (Colin) · #2 20-10-2018, 09:18 PM

The short answer is YES! BUT only in very specific instances.
They can be detected in the optical wavelengths with galaxies like NGC 5128.

Outside of this you'll want a radio telescope because of the types of energies that you're trying to detect. With a radio telescope you can detect what is known as "radio lobes".
Smaller radio telescopes are not that expensive so from that stand point, you can use minimum instrumentation.

sharpiel · #3 20-10-2018, 09:40 PM

Ah yes. X and radio waves and beyond visible spectrum radiation. My bad.

Thanks for your answer Colin.