Redshift 5.8 Quasar

The arrow in this image points to the most distant quasar ever observed, with a record-shattering redshift of 5.8. SDSS astronomers identified this faint speck of light as a possible quasar based on its distinctive red color. A spectrum of this object, obtained with the 10-meter Keck telescope in Hawaii, showed that this was indeed a quasar with a most impressive redshift.
Image credit: Stephen Kent, SDSS Collaboration

This image is also available as a large-frame GIF (2048 x 1489, 1990 KB) or TIFF (9334 KB).

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