List of quasars

This article contains lists of quasars. More than a million quasars have been observed, so any list on Wikipedia is necessarily a selection of them.
Proper naming of quasars is by Catalogue Entry, Qxxxx±yy using B1950 coordinates, or QSO Jxxxx±yyyy using J2000 coordinates. They may also use the prefix QSR. There are currently no quasars that are visible to the naked eye.

List of quasars

This is a list of exceptional quasars for characteristics otherwise not separately listed

Quasar	Notes
Twin Quasar	Associated with a possible planet microlensing event in the gravitational lens galaxy that is doubling the Twin Quasar's image.
QSR J1819+3845	Proved interstellar scintillation due to the interstellar medium.
CTA-102	In 1965, Soviet astronomer Nikolai S. Kardashev posited that this quasar could be the source of signals from an alien civilization.
CID-42	Its supermassive black hole is being ejected and will one day become a displaced quasar.
TON 618	TON 618 is a very distant and extremely luminous quasar—technically, a hyperluminous, broad-absorption line, radio-loud quasar—located near the North Galactic Pole in the constellation Canes Venatici.

List of named quasars

This is a list of quasars, with a common name, instead of a designation from a survey, catalogue or list.

Quasar	Origin of name	Notes
Twin Quasar	From the fact that two images of the same quasar are produced by gravitational lensing.
Einstein Cross	From the fact that gravitational lensing of the quasar forms a near perfect Einstein cross, a concept in gravitational lensing.
	From the fact that there are three bright images of the same gravitationally lensed quasar.	There are actually four images; the fourth is faint.
Cloverleaf	From its appearance having similarity to the leaf of a clover. It has been gravitationally lensed into four images, of roughly similar appearance.
Teacup Galaxy	The name comes from the shape of the extended emission, which is shaped like the handle of a teacup. The handle is a bubble shaped by quasar winds or small-scale radio jets.	Low redshift, highly obscured type 2 quasar.
Pōniuāʻena	The third most distant quasar known as of 2025, named for its early formation at most 100 million years after the Big Bang.	Named as part of the A Hua He Inoa program by the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center.

List of multiply imaged quasars

This is a list of quasars that as a result of gravitational lensing appear as multiple images on Earth.

Quasar	Images	Lens	Notes
Twin Quasar	2	YGKOW G1	First gravitationally lensed object discovered
Triple Quasar	4		Originally discovered as 3 lensed images, the fourth image is faint. It was the second gravitationally lensed quasar discovered.
Einstein Cross	4	Huchra's Lens	First Einstein Cross discovered
RX J1131-1231's quasar	4	RX J1131-1231's elliptical galaxy	RX J1131-1231 is the name of the complex, quasar, host galaxy and lensing galaxy, together. The quasar's host galaxy is also lensed into a Chwolson ring about the lensing galaxy. The four images of the quasar are embedded in the ring image.
Cloverleaf	4		Brightest known high-redshift source of CO emission
QSO B1359+154	6	CLASS B1359+154 and three more galaxies	First sextuply-imaged galaxy
SDSS J1004+4112	5	Galaxy cluster at z = 0.68	First quasar discovered to be multiply image-lensed by a galaxy cluster and currently the third largest quasar lens with the separation between images of 15
SDSS J1029+2623	3	Galaxy cluster at z = 0.6	The current largest-separation quasar lens with 22.6 separation between furthest images
SDSS J2222+2745	6	Galaxy cluster at z = 0.49	First sextuply-lensed galaxy Third quasar discovered to be lensed by a galaxy cluster. Quasar located at z = 2.82
RX J0911.4+0551	4	Galaxy located at z = 0.76	Gravitationally lensed object discovered by the ROSAT All-Sky survey in 1997. Quasar located at z = 2.800.
CLASS B1152+199	2	Galaxy located at z = 0.43
HE 1104-1805	2	Galaxy located at z = 0.72	Also known as Double Hamburger.
HE 2149-2745	2	Galaxy at z = 0.60	Gravitationally lensed broad absorption object at z = 2.033
FBQ 0951+2635	2	Galaxy located at z = 0.26
HE0435-1223	4	Elliptical galaxy of HE0435-1223 at z = 0.45	Quasar located at z = 1.689. Components arranged in cross figuration.
SBS 0909+532	2	Lens galaxy of SBS 0909+532 at z = 0.83	Originally interpreted as a binary quasar but later revealed as a gravitationally lensed object.
UM 673	2	Lens galaxy at z = 0.49	Quasar located at at z = 2.71, first discovered by J. Surdej
CTQ 327	2	Lens galaxy between z = 0.4 and z= 0.6
CTQ 414	2		Discovered in 1999. Quasar located at z = 1.29.
HE 0230-2130	5		Complex lensed system. Quasar located at z = 2.130.
SDSS J1001+5027	2	Lens galaxy at z = 0.3
SDSS J1206+4332	2	Lens galaxy at z = 0.74
SDSS J0246-0825	2	Lens galaxy at z = 0.724	Discovered by Scott Burles.
SDSS J0904+1512	2		Discovered in the SDSS Quasar Lens Search
SDSS J1054+2733	2		Discovered in the SDSS Quasar Lens Search
SDSS J1620+1203	2	Lens galaxy at z = 0.39	Discovered in the SDSS Quasar Lens Search. Quasar located at z = 1.158
SDSS J0746+4403	2	Lens galaxy at z = 0.513	Discovered in 2007. Quasar located at z = 2.00

List of visual quasar associations

This is a list of double quasars, triple quasars, and the like, where quasars are close together in line-of-sight, but not physically related.

List of physical quasar groups

This is a list of binary quasars, trinary quasars, and the like, where quasars are physically close to each other.

Quasars

Count

Notes

quasars of SDSS J0841+3921 protocluster

First quasar quartet discovered.

LBQS 1429-008

First quasar triplet discovered.
It was first discovered as a binary quasar, before the third quasar was found.

QQ2345+007

Large Quasar Groups

Large quasar groups are bound to a filament of mass, and not directly bound to each other.

LQG	Count	Notes
Webster LQG	5	First LQG discovered. At the time of its discovery, it was the largest structure known.
Huge-LQG	73	The largest structure known in the observable universe, as of 2013.

List of quasars with apparent superluminal jet motion

This is a list of quasars with jets that appear to be superluminal due to relativistic effects and line-of-sight orientation. Such quasars are sometimes referred to as superluminal quasars.

Quasar	Superluminality	Notes
3C 279	4c	First quasar discovered with superluminal jets
3C 179	7.6c	Fifth discovered, first with double lobes
3C 273		This is also the first quasar ever identified
3C 216
3C 345
3C 380
4C 69.21
4C 39.25
4C 38.41
8C 1928+738
PKS 0637-752

Quasars that have a recessional velocity greater than the speed of light are very common. Any quasar with z > 1 is receding faster than c, while z exactly equal to 1 indicates recession at the speed of light. Early attempts to explain superluminal quasars resulted in convoluted explanations with a limit of z = 2.326, or in the extreme z < 2.4. The majority of quasars lie between z = 2 and z = 5.

Most distant quasars

In 1964 a quasar became the most distant object in the universe for the first time. Quasars would remain the most distant objects in the universe until 1997, when a pair of non-quasar galaxies would take the title.
In cosmic scales distance is usually indicated by redshift which is a measure of recessional velocity and inferred distance due to cosmological expansion.

Type	Quasar	Date	Distance	Notes
Most distant	UHZ1	2023	z = 10.2
Most distant radio loud quasar	QSO B1425+3326 / QSO J1427+3312	2008	z = 6.12
Most distant radio quiet quasar
Most distant OVV quasar

Quasar	Date	Distance	Notes
UHZ1	2023–	z = 10.2	Current distance record holder
QSO J0313−1806	2021–2023	z = 7.64
ULAS J1342+0928	2017–2021	z = 7.54
ULAS J1120+0641	2011–2017	z = 7.085	Not the most distant object when discovered. First quasar with z > 7.
CFHQS J2329-0301	2007–2011	z = 6.43	Not the most distant object when discovered. It did not exceed IOK-1, which was discovered in 2006.
SDSS J114816.64+525150.3	2003–2007	z = 6.419	Not the most distant object when discovered. It did not exceed HCM 6A galaxy lensed by Abell 370 at z = 6.56, discovered in 2002. Also discovered around the time of discovery was a new most distant galaxy, SDF J132418.3+271455 at z = 6.58.
SDSS J1030+0524	2001–2003	z = 6.28	Most distant object when discovered. First object with z > 6.
SDSS 1044-0125	2000–2001	z = 5.82	Most distant object when discovered. It exceeded galaxy SSA22-HCM1 as the most distant object.
RD300	2000	z = 5.50	Not the most distant object when discovered. It did not surpass galaxy SSA22-HCM1.
SDSSp J120441.73−002149.6	2000	z = 5.03	Not the most distant object when discovered. It did not surpass galaxy SSA22-HCM1.
SDSSp J033829.31+002156.3	1998–2000	z = 5.00	First quasar discovered with z > 5. Not the most distant object when discovered. It did not surpass galaxy BR1202-0725 LAE.
PC 1247+3406	1991–1998	z = 4.897	Most distant object when discovered.
PC 1158+4635	1989–1991	z = 4.73	Most distant object when discovered.
Q0051-279	1987–1989	z = 4.43	Most distant object when discovered.
Q0000-26	1987	z = 4.11	Most distant object when discovered.
PC 0910+5625	1987	z = 4.04	Most distant object when discovered; second quasar with z > 4.
Q0046–293	1987	z = 4.01	Most distant object when discovered; first quasar with z > 4.
Q1208+1011	1986–1987	z = 3.80	Most distant object when discovered and a gravitationally-lensed double-image quasar. From the time of discovery to 1991, had the least angular separation between images, 0.45.
PKS 2000-330	1982–1986	z = 3.78	Most distant object when discovered.
OQ172	1974–1982	z = 3.53	Most distant object when discovered.
OH471	1973–1974	z = 3.408	Most distant object when discovered; first quasar with z > 3. Nicknamed "the blaze marking the edge of the universe".
4C 05.34	1970–1973	z = 2.877	Most distant object when discovered. The redshift was so much greater than the previous record that it was believed to be erroneous, or spurious.
5C 02.56	1968–1970	z = 2.399	Most distant object when discovered.
4C 25.05	1968	z = 2.358	Most distant object when discovered.
PKS 0237-23	1967–1968	z = 2.225	Most distant object when discovered.
4C 12.39	1966–1967	z = 2.1291	Most distant object when discovered.
4C 01.02	1965–1966	z = 2.0990	Most distant object when discovered.
3C 9	1965	z = 2.018	Most distant object when discovered; first quasar with z > 2.
3C 147	1964–1965	z = 0.545	First quasar to become the most distant object in the universe, beating radio galaxy 3C 295.
3C 48	1963–1964	z = 0.367	Second quasar redshift measured. Redshift was discovered after publication of 3C273's results prompted researchers to re-examine spectroscopic data. Not the most distant object when discovered. The radio galaxy 3C 295 was found in 1960 with z = 0.461.
3C 273	1963	z = 0.158	First quasar redshift measured. Not the most distant object when discovered. The radio galaxy 3C 295 was found in 1960 with z = 0.461.

Most powerful quasars

Rank	Quasar	Data	Refs.
1	SMSS J215728.21-360215.1	Intrinsic bolometric luminosity of ~ 6.9 × 10¹⁴ Suns or ~ 2.6 × 10⁴¹ watts
2	HS 1946+7658	Intrinsic bolometric luminosity in excess of 10¹⁴ Suns or 10⁴¹ watts
3	SDSS J155152.46+191104.0	Luminosity of over 10⁴¹ watts
4	HS 1700+6416	Luminosity of over 10⁴¹ watts
5	SDSS J010013.02+280225.8	Luminosity of around 1.62 × 10⁴¹ watts
6	SBS 1425+606	Luminosity of over 10⁴¹ watts – optically brightest for z>3
	J1144-4308	Luminosity of 4.7 × 10 watts or M_i = −29.74 mag, optically brightest in last 9 Gyr
	SDSS J074521.78+473436.2
	S5 0014+813
	SDSS J160455.39+381201.6	z = 2.51, M = 15.84
	SDSS J085543.40-001517.7