<p>Trigger Warning:  Major hacking going on here.
[edited from 1 ly to 1000 ly diameter]
Scaling from the image, I'll approximate the jet diameter as 1000 ly . So there's a volume of roughly 2e4*1e6 * pi/4 cubic ly.   For absolutely no good reason, I'll propose an electron ejection density of 1E6 per cubic km -- at least those are round numbers and easily scalable if anyone can find references to actual calculations/measurements --, so using 1 cubic ly = 8.468e+38 cubic km, I get 1.33e+56 electrons in the jet.  </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-05T15:15:34.760Z
2018-07-06T13:22:59.717Z
2018-07-06T13:22:59.717Z
Carl Witthoft
<p>In this picture of 3C273, we can see a jet&mdash;estimated to be around 200,000 light-years long&mdash;being emitted.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/fhLVR.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/fhLVR.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>I'm trying to find an estimate for the mass of the jet. It's a stream of electrons, accelerated through synchrotron radiation (see <a href="https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Courvoisier/Cour6.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>). There seems to be lots of information on its spectroscopic properties and the mass of the quasar (886 million solar masses), but I can't find an estimate for the mass of the jet itself. Does anyone know of a source I could look at to give me some idea?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-05T08:22:15.707Z
Have you looked here: [https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0605530](https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0605530)?
Chappo Hasn't Forgotten
<quasars><resource-request><astronomical-jet><estimate><synchrotron-radiation>
3C273 jet mass estimate
Jim421616
# 3C273 jet mass estimate

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-05)

In this picture of 3C273, we can see a jet—estimated to be around 200,000 light-years long—being emitted.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/fhLVR.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/fhLVR.jpg)

I'm trying to find an estimate for the mass of the jet. It's a stream of electrons, accelerated through synchrotron radiation (see [here](https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/March02/Courvoisier/Cour6.html)). There seems to be lots of information on its spectroscopic properties and the mass of the quasar (886 million solar masses), but I can't find an estimate for the mass of the jet itself. Does anyone know of a source I could look at to give me some idea?

**Tags:** quasars, resource-request, astronomical-jet, estimate, synchrotron-radiation
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Have you looked here: [https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0605530](https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0605530)?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-07-05. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Trigger Warning: Major hacking going on here.
[edited from 1 ly to 1000 ly diameter]
Scaling from the image, I'll approximate the jet diameter as 1000 ly . So there's a volume of roughly 2e4\*1e6 \* pi/4 cubic ly. For absolutely no good reason, I'll propose an electron ejection density of 1E6 per cubic km -- at least those are round numbers and easily scalable if anyone can find references to actual calculations/measurements --, so using 1 cubic ly = 8.468e+38 cubic km, I get 1.33e+56 electrons in the jet.


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