This is quad gravitationally lensed quasar [BNR2017] J014710+463040 in Andromeda. The four lensed components are:

[BNR2017] J014710+463040 A

[BNR2017] J014710+463040 B

[BNR2017] J014710+463040 C

[BNR2017] J014710+463040 D

The lensing galaxy is:

[BNR2017] J014710+463040 G

...and the original image of the QSO is nearly directly behind the galaxy and designated:

[BNR2017] J014710+463040 Source

The lensed quasar is at a redshift of z=2.341, putting distance (assuming a Hubble constant of 70km/s/Mpc) is 11.67 billion light years. The bright star right next to the quasar's images is 12.5 magnitude TYC 3279-1686-1.

The seeing was good, so I thought I would have a go at this interesting object that was positioned nicely in the sky. Because the closest three components only span about 2.5 arc second and were fairly bright, I used only half second exposures to help split them. After stacking 26 frames over a minute or two, the seeing got worse, and no more frames would stack with the low full-width-half-max star size filter settings I was using. As it turned out, only 13 seconds of data was enough to show both the 3 brightest 16th magnitude components (A,B,C) and the dimmer 18th magnitude component (D). The good seeing was a big help getting by with so little data.

The images split at the native image scale is 0.5 arc second per pixel, but the four components show up more clearly in the 2x enlargement. Interestingly, the components appear to show different colors. Assuming this is real (I believe it is), the different light paths may pass through different amounts of attenuating material (i.e. dust and gas) in the intervening galaxy or group of galaxies that act as the gravitational lens. I think with a longer exposure, I might be able to pick up hints of the lensing galaxy. Definitely worth revisiting this object to collect longer exposure data to capture the lensing galaxy!

You can view the object data and celestial coordinate information on SIMBAD at:

http://cdsportal.u-strasbg.fr/?target=%20%5BBNR2017%5D%20J014710%2B463040%20A