Quasars
Key words
blue shift
c b a d
a A distant star receding from Earth at
high velocity.
b Light waves emitted in front of the star are
squashed closer together.
c An observer aboard a craft in the path of the
Red shift and blue shift
● Red shift is a phenomenon used by
astronomers to determine the distance
of objects.
● Light travels in waves and its color
depends upon its wavelength. When an
object, such as a star, moving at high
velocity gives out light, the light waves
ahead of it are squashed closer together
and the light waves behind it
are stretched further apart.
● Light with longer (stretched) wavelengths
red shift
e ● Some have strong radio emissions
star sees a blue-shifted image of the star.
d Light waves emitted behind the star are
stretched further apart.
e An observer on Earth sees a red-shifted
image of the star.
is redder. Light with shorter (squashed)
wavelengths is bluer.
● Objects receding from an observer at high
velocity appear to be redder than they
actually are (called red shift).
● The faster an object is receding from
Earth the larger its red shift. The faster an
object is traveling the farther away it must
be, if it is true that the universe is
constantly expanding.
blue shift radio loud
galaxy radio quiet
luminosity red shift
Milky Way solar system
quasar star
quasi-stellar supermassive
object (QSO) black hole
Quasars
● The word quasar is derived from
“quasi-stellar radio source.”
● Quasars are also known as QSOs or
quasi-stellar objects.
● They appear as bright blue point
sources through an optical telescope.
(they are “radio loud”) but most do
not (they are “radio quiet”).
Quasar features
● The emissions from all quasars exhibit
very high red shifts, indicating that
they are very distant and therefore
receding at very high velocities.
● Despite their great distance, they are
very bright.
● A typical quasar has the same
luminosity as about 1,000 Milky Way
galaxies.
● Quasar luminosities vary over time
periods of months, weeks, days, or
hours.
● These relatively short periods of
variation in luminosity indicate that
they are relatively small (no effect can
propagate across an object faster than
the speed of light).
● Taken together, these features indicate
that quasars are about the size of the
solar system, but emit as much energy
as a thousand large galaxies.
Quasar origins
● Quasars are thought to be the active
cores of very ancient galaxies.
● Their energy is thought to be
produced by the effects of
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supermassive black holes on
matter surrounding them.