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Which quasar did Maarten Schmidt study to explain quasar redshifts?
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Quasar
Six quasar host galaxies, as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Shown are apparently normal, solitary galaxies (left), colliding galaxies (centre), and merging galaxies (right).
In 1963, the Dutch American astronomer Maarten Schmidt identified the redshift of the quasar known as 3C 273.1
By analyzing the optical spectra of this object—the brightest known quasar—Schmidt realized that the mysterious pattern of emission lines could be explained as hydrogen atoms shifted toward longer, redder wavelengths due to the expansion of the universe. This discovery of a 0.158 redshift placed 3C 273 at a distance of more than two billion light-years, revealing that quasars were far more luminous and distant than previously understood.1