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From: nather@ut-sally.UUCP
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.misc
Subject: Re: Quasar question
Message-ID: <7611@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 28-Mar-87 15:14:13 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.7611
Posted: Sat Mar 28 15:14:13 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 29-Mar-87 12:02:49 EST
References: <3283@udenva.UUCP> <877@bath63.ux63.bath.ac.uk>
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 29
Keywords: When were they "discovered?"
Xref: utgpu sci.astro:767 sci.misc:229
Summary: Careful ...

In article <877@bath63.ux63.bath.ac.uk>, cc_dgdc@bath63.ux63.bath.ac.uk (Clark) writes:
> 
> Joscelyn (Bell) spotted the first quasar when doing postgrad work at
> Cambridge, England. It must have been 1965. 
> 

No, that was the discovery of the first PULSAR, not the first quasar.

Allan Sandage discovered that the radio source 3C48 was apparently
associated with a faint blue star with a spectrum he was unable to
decipher.  Somewhat later, Cyril Hazard & colleagues observed the
occulation of the radio source 3C273 by the moon, and were able to
pin-point its position thereby.  Maarten Schmidt took a spectum of it,
but, like Sandage, was unable to decipher it immediately.  Some time 
later he realized, quite suddenly, that it could be understood as an
object with an extreme red shift --- nearly as large as the most
distant galaxy measured, and receding from the earth at about 15%
the speed of light.  Jesse Greenstein, who had a copy of Sandage's
spectrum, realized immediately that 3C48 could be explained the same
way, except that the red shift was much larger.

So you tell me: who ``discovered'' the first quasar?  I know the history,
but I don't think I can answer that question.

-- 
Ed Nather
Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin
{allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather
nather@astro.AS.UTEXAS.EDU