3C 9 is a lobe-dominated quasar located in the constellation Pisces. This quasar is classified as radio loud with a jet. It has X-ray emission located primary on two sides of its nucleus, based on Chandra observations.
The host of 3C 9 is described as a ring-like galaxy undergoing a merger. The two nuclei of the merging galaxies are estimated to be 9 kiloparsecs apart.
In 1965, it was the most distant object discovered at the time of discovery. This was the first object found with a redshift in excess of 2.