Abstract
Following the dramatic infrared to millimetre-wavelength flare seen in the quasar 3C273 during 19831, we have continued to monitor its overall continuum emission. Recent measurements show that the 10-µm to 3-mm emission has decayed to a level well below any seen previously2,3, while the 1–4-µm emission has remained relatively constant. This behaviour has revealed the presence of an apparently non-variable component which dominates the near-infrared emission in 3C273 and includes the small ‘bump’ at ∼3.5 µm in the power-law continuum previously noted by Neugebauer et al.3. The origin of this component is probably not thermal re-radiation by dust grains but may be due to free–free emission from very dense, broad-line clouds4.
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Robson, E., Gear, W., Brown, L. et al. A new infrared spectral component of the quasar 3C273. Nature 323, 134–136 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/323134a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/323134a0
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