Quasar 3C 273

As Autumn and Winter approach here in the Southern hemisphere we can begin to look forward to the so called galaxy season. Leo, Virgo and Coma Berenices offer up a wealth of galaxies for you to hunt down and get logged.

Among the many varied galaxies in the universe we also find the Quasar, a Quasar is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus or AGN.
It is thought many galaxies contain a super massive black hole in the center. Their masses range from millions to billions of times that of our Sun.
The power from these Quasars are enormous as the black hole is surrounded by a gaseous accretion disc, this gas falls inward and releases massive amounts of energy. Some Quasars have luminosities  thousands of times that of our entire galaxy and are some of the most distant objects ever observed.

One such Quasar is 3C 273 and can be found in the constellation Virgo. When viewed in the scope they have a stellar appearance. 3C 273 is optically the brightest Quasar in the sky and is also the closest.
3C 273 shines at a magnitude of +12.85 making it accessible to most medium to large scopes.
When you see this Quasar keep in mind you are seeing the luminous AGN  that is approximately 2 Billion light years from us!
Quasars had their peak epoch of activity approximately 10 billion years ago.

So try get out there and get a look at these fascinating objects so distant in time and space.
From here in Durban your best bet will be during the month of April when it will be highest in our sky, the images below show that time period and where to find it in our Southern skies. Images courtesy of SkySafari 6 Pro, a link to the webpage is available under the Useful Links tab to the right of this post.
For our Northern Hemisphere friends this is a nice target as your nights start to warm and Spring has sprung with Summer on the horizon. 3C 273 will also be better placed for you to observe from the Northern Hemisphere.
The constellation Virgo appears in our Northern horizons here in the Southern hemisphere. The constellation Virgo was first recorded by Ptolemy in the second century AD. It is the second largest constellation in the sky. Virgo is Latin and is translated as "Young maiden" or "Virgin".

Try locating the naked eye star Gamma Virginis also known as Porrima, from there it should be a easy star hop. The two white images have different layers of magnitude to help you narrow down the field and are merely a guide, I would recommend printing out a decent finder chart or using your copy of skysafari or other planetarium software to locate the Quasar 3C 273.

Have fun finding 3C 273 and clear skies to you!