Source: DTE
Context: According to a new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, galaxy mergers likely ignite quasars, the most powerful and brightest objects in the universe.
About Quasars:
| Property | Description | |
| Definition | Quasars (short for “quasi-stellar radio source“) are very luminous objects in faraway galaxies that emit jets at radio frequencies | |
| Detection | First detected in the 1960s | |
| Emits | Radio waves, visible light, ultraviolet rays, infrared waves, X-rays, and gamma-rays | |
| Size | Most are larger than our solar system, approximately 1 kiloparsec in width | |
| Location | Only found in galaxies with supermassive black holes that power the bright discs | |
| Formation | As matter falls into the black hole, it emits a tremendous amount of energy, creating a very bright and luminous disc around the black hole. Quasars are formed by the energy emitted by materials swirling around a blackhole right before being sucked into it | |
| Types | Radio-loud: About 10% of the overall quasar population with powerful jets that are strong sources of radio-wavelength emission
Radio-quiet: The majority of quasars (about 90%) lack powerful jets, with relatively weaker radio emission than the radio-loud population |
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| About Black Hole | Point in space where matter is so compressed as to create a gravity field from which even light cannot escape | |
