quasar

Latest about quasar

A bright, orange circle in the center of a ring of light. Four bright white spots form a cross shape on the circle's perimeter

Rare 'Einstein cross' warps light from one of the universe's brightest objects in this stunning image

By Ben Turner published

Einstein predicted the existence of these crosses back in 1915. Now, they are used to study distant galaxies.

Gravity
An illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope

James Webb Space Telescope: Origins, design and mission objectives

By Andrew May last updated

Reference NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has launched and it's the most powerful in history, giving us the deepest ever view into our universe.

Reference
Two bright blue spheres representing supermassive black holes swirl amidst a cloud of blue and brown dust in the early universe

NASA discovers ultra-rare 'double quasar' about to collide into an unbelievably massive black hole

By Joanna Thompson published

A rare double quasar system 10 billion light-years away could help astronomers uncover the secrets of the early universe.

Black Holes
A telescope image of three galaxies swirling around one another as they collide, with a bright orange burst of radiation at the center

Rare galaxy with three black holes leads astronomers to the most massive objects in the universe

By Robert Lea published

Scientists watched as a three-quasar system merged in a supercomputer simulation of the universe to birth a black hole 300 billion times as massive as the sun.

Black Holes
Artist's concept of a supermassive black hole.

The 10 most massive black hole findings from 2022

By Brandon Specktor published

From "rogue" black holes cruising the cosmos to one of the oldest black hole ancestors in this universe, this year's findings truly sucked us in.

Black Holes
A supercomputer simulation shows massive stars forming (red) in a cloud of ancient gas.

The oldest, brightest black holes in the universe were born from violent gas attacks, new study suggests

By Brandon Specktor published

Researchers found that streams of cold gas could create 'seeds' of quasars — ultraluminous supermassive black holes — in the early universe, solving a decades-old mystery.

Black Holes
Artist's impression of an energy jet blasting out of quasar 3C 273

Massive, unknown radio structure detected around the universe's brightest quasar

By Brandon Specktor published

Two previously unknown radio structures have been detected around quasar 3C273, the first and brightest quasar ever detected.

Cosmology
An artist's impression of a transitioning red quasar -- a bright, compact object shrouded in clouds of red dust

Ultra-rare black hole ancestor detected at the dawn of the universe

By Brandon Specktor published

Scientists may have detected the first known 'transitioning red quasar' in the universe, dating to just 750 million years after the Big Bang.

Black Holes
This artist's visualization shows a supermassive black hole surrounded by dust and gas forming tsunamis on its outer edges.

Supermassive black holes could host giant, swirling gas 'tsunamis'

By Chelsea Gohd published

Could gas escaping the gravitational grasp of supermassive black holes be forming "tsunamis" in space?

Black Holes
An artist's rendering of the double quasar, located in two merging galaxies about 10 billion light-years away

NASA detects rare 'double quasar' in ancient corner of the universe

By Brandon Specktor published

Astronomers just detected two pairs of rare 'double quasars' about 10 billion light-years away. They are the oldest in the known universe.

Cosmology
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