3C 273 is one of the few quasars that has an optical jet (jets are usually in radio wavelengths). Note that the jet appears on only one side of 3C 273; this is characteristic of high-powered quasars and radio galaxies. In 1977 astronomers discovered two amorphous blobs of radio-emitting gas 62 light years apart. But when 3C 273 was observed about a year later, an astounding discovery was made: the masses were now 68 light years from each other, suggesting that they were moving at a speed several times that of light, for they had apparently moved 4 light years from each other in a single year. Yet if the blobs were moving faster than the speed of light, they would be violating EinsteinΓÇÖs theory of relativity. Astrophysical theorists
