An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A bright → quasar whose image is split into four spots due to → gravitational lensing (Magain et al. 1988, Nature 334, 325). The four images of comparable brightness all lie within 0.7 arc seconds of the image center. The quasar has a → redshift of 2.56, corresponding to a distance of about 11 billion → light-years. Observations indicate that the lensing galaxy is located approximately at the geometrical center of the four images. A firm spectroscopic redshift of the lens has yet to be obtained; however, a → cluster of galaxies at a redshift of z = 1.7 has been suggested to account for the lensing of this system. H1413+117 was the first quasar to be detected in the → submillimeter wave → continuum and in → carbon monoxide emission.

See also: So named because of the optical image; → clover; → leaf; → quasar.