Cosmic Telescope Zooms in on the Beginning of Time

A number of large telescopes were used to observe quasar J0439+1634 in the optical and infrared light. The 6.5m MMT Telescope was used to discovery this distant quasar. It and the 10m Keck-I Telescope obtained a sensitive spectrum of the quasar in optical light. The 8.1m Gemini Telescope obtained an infrared spectrum that accurately determined the quasar distance and the mass of its powerful black hole. The 2x8.4m Large Binocular Telescope captured an adaptive optics corrected image that suggests the quasar is lensed, later confirmed by the sharper Hubble image.