quasars "The word quasar is short for "quasi-stellar radio source." This name, which means star-like emitters of radio waves, was given in the 1960s when quasars were first detected. The name is retained today, even though astronomers now know most quasars are faint radio emitters. In addition to radio waves and visible light, quasars also emit ultraviolet rays, infrared waves, X-rays, and gamma-rays. Most quasars are larger than our solar system. A quasar is approximately 1 kiloparsec in width" ("Quasar").
goes back to less than a billion years after the
big bang. "According to the theories of physics, if we were to look at the Universe one second after the Big Bang, what we would see is a 10-billion degree sea of neutrons, protons, electrons, anti-electrons (positrons), photons, and neutrinos. Then, as time went on, we would see the Universe cool, the neutrons either decaying into protons and electrons or combining with protons to make deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen). As it continued to cool, it would eventually reach the temperature where electrons combined with nuclei to form neutral atoms. Before this "recombination" occurred, the Universe would have been opaque because the free electrons would have caused light (photons) to scatter the way sunlight scatters from the water droplets in clouds. But when the free electrons were absorbed to form neutral atoms, the Universe suddenly became transparent. Those same photons - the afterglow of the Big Bang known as cosmic background radiation - can be observed today" ("The Big Bang").
There is so much dust around quasars that it prevents starlight from being seen throughout the galaxy ("Quasar May be").
"Quasars are typically more than 100 times brighter than the galaxies which host them! Quasars also emit jets from their central regions, which can be larger in extent than the host galaxy. When a quasar jet interacts with the gas surrounding the galaxy,
radio waves "Radio waves have the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. They range from the length of a football to larger than our planet" ("Science Mission").
are emitted which can be seen as “radio lobes” by radio telescopes" ("Quasar").
Galaxy's edge. No man's land, but divine. Quasars of the night.